The NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) Central Office operates out of NASA Ames Research Center, supporting NLSI teams and international partners, as well as the lunar science community at large.
NLSI Central supports its selected domestic teams in several ways, including administering the funds for these competitively selected teams. As a virtual institute, the NLSI Central Office brings unique skills and collaborative technologies to its teams, as well as training, for enhancing collaborative research between geographically disparate teams. NLSI Central convenes the Executive Council of the organization, which guides the Institute’s activities, particularly in regard to the lunar science community as a whole and in response to NASA’s needs.
International partnerships are fostered by the NLSI via development and finalization of formal partnerships. The Central Office manages the creation of these partnerships and facilitates collaborations between partners and the rest of the NLSI community. Additionally, NLSI Central leads international lunar science meetings and participates in international lunar science community endeavors.
NLSI Central also interfaces with lunar science programmatic elements by providing leadership for community input to surveys such as the Planetary Decadal, working with the Lunar Exploration & Analysis Group (LEAG) efforts with the lunar science community, and being an interface between the lunar commercial space sector and the lunar science community, including NASA. NLSI also hosts an array of lunar science focus groups and seminars. The Director’s Seminar Series and the Lunar Commerce Seminar Series, are archived online and available to anyone.
In addition to supporting the general lunar science community, NLSI Central provides a core for the lunar Education/ Public Outreach (EPO) community, supporting both the NLSI teams’ EPO efforts and broader lunar-themed collaborations such as Moon Zoo and International Observe the Moon Night. NLSI Central also is a source and repository for lunar science education materials available to anyone. For higher education, NLSI Central provides funding for undergraduate internships and runs a competitive lunar post-doctoral program that places young researchers in NLSI’s teams.
If you are interested in collaborating with the NASA Lunar Science Institute teams or Central Office, please contact one of our staff members.
