NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Institute (SSERVI) will host the first Exploration Science Forum July 21-23, 2014 at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. The inaugural forum coincides with the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11’s return flight to Earth. Participants at the forum will discuss future science opportunities as NASA makes its next giant leap into the solar system with human exploration of an asteroid and Mars.
SSERVI is a joint effort by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate andHuman Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate. SSERVI’s community of scientists helps identify science priorities for exploration of destinations including the moon, near-Earth asteroids and the moons of Mars. Previously, SSERVI was the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI). Its mission was broadened to cover other targets of scientific exploration.
Updates from several NASA missions will be presented at the forum, including the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS), along with future plans for the Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission scheduled for launch in 2016.
SSERVI also will present the winners of the 2014 Shoemaker Distinguished Lunar Scientist Medal for significant contributions to the field of lunar science, the 2014 Michael Wargo Exploration Science Award for significant contributions to the integration of exploration and planetary science, and the 2014 Susan Mahan Niebur Early Career Award for significant contributions to exploration science.
Additionally, on July 24, NASA Headquarters and SSERVI will hold a one-day meeting to discuss science that can be accomplished by NASA astronauts as the agency expands human presence into deep space on the path to Mars. Science opportunities for international partnerships through the Global Exploration Roadmap, which could include future human expeditions to the lunar surface, also will be discussed.
News media interested in attending should register on the forum website:
http://sservi.nasa.gov/nesf2014/
The forum will take place in building 152 in the NASA Research Park (NRP). To reach Ames, take U.S. Highway 101 to the Moffett Field, NASA Parkway exit and drive east on Moffett Boulevard towards the main gate. No visitor badges are required for entry into the NRP, but visitors will be required to show photo identification at main gate to enter.
For more information about the forum, agenda and awards, visit:
http://sservi.nasa.gov/nesf2014
For more information about NASA’s plans to explore an asteroid, the agency’s Path to Mars, and the Global Exploration Roadmap, visit:
