This content is a guest blog, authored by Dr. Alan Stern, who is the Chairman of the ispace-U.S. Lunar Science Advisory Board (or LSAB), and a board member of the ispace Lunar Advisory Board, which is a global advisory board to ispace inc.
Early this spring, ispace-U.S. formed an advisory board, named the Lunar Science Advisory Board. The board consists of five distinguished lunar scientists and myself, who will meet regularly each year to advise the company on lunar science markets and to provide technical expertise in how the Moon and the lunar environment impinge on our spacecraft and mission Concept of Operations (CONOPS). We thought it would be interesting to provide some LSAB background here for everyone, particularly because the board has now met for the first time, at ispace-U.S., at the end of May.
With concurrence from ispace headquarters, ispace-U.S. assembled this external Lunar Science Advisory Board to reflect critical insights and recommendations to its leadership to help build and scale the U.S. business. LSAB’s mission is to provide direct, actionable feedback to the ispace-U.S. executive leadership team on areas of opportunity for business growth and strategic positioning by:
- Providing a cost-effective way of increasing our presence in the broader science community
- Providing independent feedback and guidance on business and technical matters
- Serving as highly visible reputation builders
- Recommending new strategic partnerships
- Providing access to the networks of each advisor
- Providing corporate marketing opportunities via their members
- Increasing brand awareness
- Identifying new payload and mission sales business on-ramps
- Identifying new payload, data sales, and other revenue generation opportunities
- Networking in the science community to create new funding proposals
- Raising brand awareness within the worldwide US lunar science communities
- Helping build NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) and commercial/international lunar manifests
The members of LSAB are all prominent, senior U.S. lunar scientists. They are: Dr. Jack Burns (astrophysicist, University of Colorado professor and CLPS instrument PI), Dr. Lisa Gaddis (lunar cartographer and former director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute), Dr. Amanda Hendrix (lunar remote sensing expert and Planetary Science Institute director), Dr. Phil Metzger (NASA ret., and lunar regolith researcher at the University of Central Florida), and Dr. Clive Neal (professor, University of Notre Dame and former NASA Lunar Exploration Advisory Group chair).
LSAB’s first meeting was an all-day event held at ispace-U.S. headquarters in Englewood, Colorado. It included presentations on the company from Ron Garan, Jeremy Fix, Dallas Schray, Miri Casey, Sophia Casanova, and Tyler Mundt. Just below is a photo of the group outside of ispace-U.S.’s Mission Control Center, known as the Summit.
Attendees at the first ispace-U.S. Lunar Advisory Board (L to R: Ron Garan, Phil Metzger, Amanda Hendrix, Clive Neal, Jack Burns, Alan Stern, Lisa Gaddis, and Tyler Mundt)
LSAB received briefings on ispace and ispace-U.S., the technology roadmap, business development plans, the RESILIENCE and the APEX 1.0 lunar landers and their overall missions, the rovers being built in Luxembourg, and made numerous suggestions on everything from how the lunar environment can affect our landers and mission CONOPS to Business Development targets and overall revenue strategies. From my perspective, the meeting exceeded expectations, particularly because the group had never met with the entire ispace-U.S. leadership team or even met in person as a team before.
“To ensure that our missions best contribute to the progress of lunar exploration, we need to fully understand the needs of the science community. We are thrilled to have world-renowned lunar scientists on the ispace team helping to shape our strategy and direction through LSAB.” – Ron Garan, Chairman of ispace-U.S.
The second in-person LSAB meeting is planned for early December. I’m excited that we have this new team of lunar subject matter experts and their many connections in NASA, the U.S., and international lunar science and engineering communities in our court supporting us now, and I look forward to the LSAB’s continued advisory inputs to help ispace flourish.
