Mission PI support for MoonLITE Phase A

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MoonLITE is a proposed UK led mission to the Moon involving the placement of four penetrators 3m below the lunar surface and diverse locations. A lunar orbiting spacecraft will relay information from the pentrators to Earth. During a one year mission the penetrators would make a range of scientific measurements including seismometry, geochemistry, heat flow and the detection and characterisation of volatiles within the permanently shaded polar craters. A phase A will be undertaken which will examine the feasibiltiy of the mission in detail, exploring in particular alternative technical solutions. The phase A will comprise two industrial studies (one at mission level, one at descent module level) and a study of the penetrators themselves through a grant to the UK penetrator consortium. NASA will also support the study. The grant requested here is to support the Mission PI in his role to coordinate this study. Given the complexity of the mission and novelty of some of the technologies involved, plus the UK-US dimension this study is non-trivial.