MOFFETT FIELD, Calif., July 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says a Canadian university will become the first international affiliate partner of the agency's Lunar Science Institute.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the University of Western Ontario, located in London, Ontario, will represent the Canadian lunar science community as part of the newly established Canadian Network for Lunar Science and Exploration.
"We are tremendously excited about this partnership," said Pete Worden, director of NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., where the institute is located. "With the large number of U.S. and international missions focused on the moon, this is absolutely the right step forward."
The space agency said its institute will promote a new generation of research on and about the moon, supporting collaborative science, providing technical perspectives to NASA's lunar missions and developing future scientific investigations.
"The moon has been Earth's cosmic partner for the last four billion years," said Gregory Schmidt, deputy director of the institute. "It is an honor to move forward in partnership with the Canadian science community in this next phase of scientific exploration of the moon."
