New Year Greetings fromBernard Foing, ILEWG
Dr. Clive R. Neal of Notre Dame has fowarded the following message, including New Years Greetings from Bernard Foing, head of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG), who gathered for a joint Annual Meeting with the Space Science Roundtable and Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, last October:
Dear Lunar and Space Explorer,
2008 has been a great year for international lunar exploration. We saw exciting results from Kaguya and Chang'E1.
Chandrayaan-1 was successfully launched on 22 October and inserted in lunar orbit, providing first data.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and LCROSS missions are under intense preparation for launch next spring.
There was a remarkable progress on the Constellation programme (in particular on Orion Crew vehicle and Ares launcher).
The Google Lunar X Prize is inspiring entrepreneurs, the public and the youth.
All these achievements have been recognised by ILEWG awards 2008 announced last October.
ILEWG has supported a number of conferences (SPIE, EGU Vienna, COSPAR Montreal, NLSI Ames, Europlanet Muenster, IAC Glasgow, ILEWG/LEAG/SRR in Port Canaveral). The 10th ILEWG Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon was organised jointly with NASA Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) and the Space Resources Roundtable (SRR), and included 200 participants, numbers of presentations (now posted on the LPI site), posters, discussions, recommendations and the Cape Canaveral Lunar Declaration 2008.
ILEWG has also enhanced the links with number of institutions (space agencies, IAF, COSPAR, IAA, Global Space Exploration, EGU, EuroPlanet, NLSI, Itaccus, GLXP, etc...).
COSPAR endorsed in July 2008 a recommendation to develop an "International Lunar Base" task group, and has asked ILEWG to organise a series of activities accordingly to report at COSPAR bureau in March 2009, and to the community at large during the COSPAR general assembly in Bremen on 18-25 July 2010.
The International Astronautical Federation has also asked ILEWG to co-sponsor a Global Lunar Conference in Beijing in early June 2010.
We want to enhance the activities of ILEWG task groups, with collaborations of institutes and experts.
1) Science of, on, and from the Moon;
2) Key technologies; Utilization of lunar resources; synergies with Mars and planetary exploration
3) Living and working on the Moon; Infrastructures for lunar bases; Surface operations and analogues; International Lunar Base
4) Society, law, policy, and commerce;
5) Public outreach, education, multicultural aspects; and Young Lunar Explorers.
Please contact me if you intend to support the ILEWG general events or to contribute to specific tasks groups.
Next year will be key to shape the future, and to make progress in space science, lunar and planetary exploration.
On behalf of ILEWG committee, I wish you (and your family) Happy holidays, and a very successful New Year 2009.
Prof Bernard H. Foing
ILEWG Executive Director
Links:
ILEWG website: http://sci.esa.int/ilewg
Cape Canaveral Lunar Declaration 2008
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/
ILEWG awards 2008
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/
Presentations ILEWG-LEAG2008
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/
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