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| Monday / 6 March 2006 | ||
NASA Ames
Lunar Legacy Bolsters RLEP Management. It
was no surprise when NASA announced late last year that management
of the Robotic
Lunar Exploration Program (RLEP) would go to Ames Research
Center
(ARC) in Mountain View CA. ARC's long relationship with lunar research
has been highlighted by analysis of lunar rock brought back during
the Apollo program and management of the 1998 Lunar
Prospector mission, designed to conduct a low polar orbit investigation
of the Moon. G. Scott Hubbard, who recently left his position as
Director at ARC, served as Mission Manager of Lunar Prospector, working
closely with Principal Investigator Alan Binder. Hubbard also provided
a Gamma Ray Spectrometer science payload for Lunar Prospector. Hubbard
was honored Friday evening at a farewell dinner hosted by NASA at
the Stanford University Faculty Club. He will join
the University as a visiting scholar, stating, "Stanford
is a world leader in many areas that are of interest to me -- not
only in science but in entrepreneurial pursuits as well." Hubbard
chaired a task force on nanotechnology in California and hopes
to analyze the convergence of nanotech, biotech and IT at the
frontiers of research, as well as the emergence of an entrepreneurial
space industry. His tenure at ARC leaves a legacy of lunar science
and dedication to entrepreneurial space interests with expectations
for future success in these areas for ARC. It has been suggested
that retired
USAF Brigadier General Simon "Pete" Worden may be named
as his successor.
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