International Lunar Network

The International Lunar Network or ILN is a proposed network of a series of landed stations of the United States and the other space-faring countries on the lunar surface in the 2010s. Each of these stations will act as a node in a lunar geophysical network. Ultimately this network could be comprised of 8-10 or more nodes operating simultaneously. As per the ILN concept, each node would have minimum two core capabilities like seismic sensing, heat flow sensing or laser retro-reflectors, which would be specific to each station. Because some are desired to be located on the lunar far side, NASA will study a lunar communications relay satellite capability as a part of its contribution to this proposed project.cite web|url=http://nasascience.nasa.gov/missions/iln|title=International Lunar Network|accessdate=2008-08-12]

Individual nodes launched by different space agencies could and likely would carry additional, unique experiments to study local or global lunar science. Such experiments might include atmospheric and dust instruments, plasma physics investigations, astronomical instruments, electromagnetic profiling of lunar regolith and crust, local geochemistry, and in-situ resource utilization demonstrations.cite web|url=http://nasascience.nasa.gov/missions/iln|title=International Lunar Network|accessdate=2008-08-12]

On July 24, 2008 a meeting of the space agenices of Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States was held at NASA's Lunar Science Institute, located at the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. During the meeting, the representatives of the nine space agenices discussed about the cooperation on ILN and agreed on a statement of intent as a first step in planning. NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) have decided to provide two pairs of nodes (landed stations) for this network. The first two nodes would be launched in 2013 and 2014. The landers are being developed under the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsvill, Ala.cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jul/HQ_08190_NASA_hosts_ILN.html|title=NASA Hosts International Meeting for Lunar Science Discussions|accessdate=2008-08-12] The second pair of the nodes would be launched in 2016-2017.

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