General Themes

The morning of day one is mostly devoted to Programmatic and Mission Updates (e.g., NASA HQ, SSERVI, GSFC, international agency representatives, etc.) to the LEAG community. The remaining two and a half days will consist of oral and poster representations on the topics of:

• Commercial Space Opportunities – Impact on Lunar Science and Exploration
• New Views of the Lunar Regolith
• New Lunar Mission Concepts
• Lunar Capabilities Roadmap
• Building a Moon Village

We are specifically requesting abstracts and presentations that address the questions described below, although all new research results pertaining to the Moon are welcome and encouraged to be submitted for presentation at the 2016 annual LEAG meeting. Note that there will be more emphasis on discussion and community input at this LEAG meeting.

Commercial Space Opportunities – Impact on Lunar Science and Exploration. With the burgeoning commercial space sector, including potential launches to the Moon from 2017, it is important that lunar scientists, engineers, and the commercial space companies understand the requirements each has for achieving their respective goals. Not only will this enable public-private partnerships, it can engage the lunar science and exploration community in this conversation. Abstracts submitted to this session should address the following questions:

• What are the capabilities (e.g., mass, power, data return rate, longevity, etc.), costs, and risks of commercial space providers in terms of payloads to (a) lunar orbit; (b) the lunar surface?
• What are the critical issues for closing the economic loop for commercial space companies and how can the Moon be used to address these?
• What lunar science and exploration questions need to be addressed in terms of the current decadal survey and other significant reports (e.g., the LEAG Lunar Exploration Roadmap; the NRC SCEM Report)?
• What payloads would need to be delivered to the Moon (both orbital and surface) in order to address important lunar science questions and what are the key requirements?

New Views of the Lunar Regolith. There is a considerable amount of new data from lunar missions and research activities that have provided a much clearer picture of the upper meter of the regolith, its physical properties, how it interacts with the space environment, and how it interacts with and stores volatiles. Movement, manipulation, and refining of lunar regolith will be critical for producing resources to support extended human stays on the lunar surface and establish cis-lunar infrastructure and much of the scientific data gathered thus far is applicable to In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). Abstracts submitted to this session should address:

• What are the physical properties of the regolith at scales of microns to meters?
• How do the energetic and charged particles interact with the regolith and the implications for volatile formation and transport?
• To what extent does the regolith act as a short-term (e.g., diurnal) surface and/or subsurface reservoir for volatiles?
• What are the implications of regolith properties on ISRU and resource extraction?
• What are the major issues regarding assessment of resource viability and how can they be addressed?
• What steps are needed to transition to a dependency on local resources and what are the potential roles of the public and private sectors in making this transition?

New Lunar Mission Concepts. This session is devoted to new lunar mission concepts that would address important scientific questions as well as the Strategic Knowledge Gaps (SKGs). In addition, mission concepts that include technology demonstrations are of interest. Mission categories include:  Cube-Satellites, Discovery-class, Cosmic Visions (S-, M-, L-class), and New Frontiers, along with any that don’t fit into these categories (e.g., SALMON, commercial offerings/opportunities) but would address important science and exploration questions.

Lunar Capabilities Roadmap (LCR). LEAG has been requested to develop a technology roadmap to assist in planning for advanced technologies necessary for future robotic and human missions to the Moon. A LEAG-specific action team was established to develop a draft LCR. This session will review that draft and seeks comments from the LEAG community. We also solicit short (e.g., 5 minute, 3-slide maximum) contributions of key technologies that should be included. Please see the current draft on the LEAG website.

Building a Moon Village. The recent initiative from ESA’s Director General to establish a “Moon Village” as a global endeavor post-ISS has generated considerable international interest. Realizing that the details will be critical in the success of this endeavor, abstracts are solicited to address issues pertaining to the early stages of establishing the “village.” Topics include robotic precursor missions (if needed) and initial human habitation. Abstracts submitted to this session should specifically address at least one of the following questions:

• What new research, data, or data products are required before the Moon Village concept can place hardware and humans on the lunar surface?
• What technology development must occur and when?
• How should the “Moon Village” be established and built up?
• How can public/private partnerships help in advancing this endeavor?