Aug. 19, 2008

Michael Curie
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-4715
michael.curie@nasa.gov

Stephanie Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-4997
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov



MEDIA ADVISORY: 08-207

NASA SEEKS INPUT FOR COMMERCIAL LUNAR COMMUNICATIONS & NAVIGATION

WASHINGTON -- NASA issued a Request for Information, or RFI, on Monday
to gauge interest and solicit ideas from private companies in
providing communications and navigation services that would support
the development of exploration, scientific and commercial
capabilities on the moon over the next 25 years.

NASA plans to establish science stations on the lunar surface
beginning as early as 2013, followed by the return of humans to the
moon and establishment of the first lunar outpost in 2020.
Communications, networking and navigation capabilities required to
support these efforts will be provided by NASA, other national space
agencies, private industry or some combination thereof.

The services for which NASA seeks information in this RFI are
communications, networking, and position, navigation and timing. The
information requested is for planning purposes only as this RFI is
one step of a larger study that will culminate in a final NASA report
addressing strategies for the commercial co-development of lunar
communications and navigation.

Communication and navigation services may include, but are not limited
to, terrestrial network services, terrestrial ground stations,
Earth-orbiting capabilities, lunar orbiting capabilities, and lunar
surface capabilities. They may be complete "turn-key" services,
subsystems or components; partial solutions such as applications for
specific functions; or other capabilities believed to be necessary to
meet a portion of anticipated needs.

Responses should be submitted to Barbara Adde, NASA Headquarters, Mail
Suite 7L70, 300 E. St., SW, Washington, D.C. 20546-0001, by 4 p.m.
EDT on Sept. 15, 2008.

To view the Request for Information, visit:



http://www.spacecomm.nasa.gov


For more information about NASA's exploration program, visit:



http://nasa.gov/exporation


For more information about NASA's science missions, visit:



http://nasascience.nasa.gov