[ILEWG Press Release - 07.11.2008]
What are the lunar highlights of the year? The winners of "International Lunar Exploration Awards 2008" have just been announced by the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG) at a Lunar Explorers Conference in Cape Canaveral.

The ILEWG Awards celebrate the top lunar achievements in science, technology, international cooperation, community service, commerce and outreach, says Bernard Foing, ILEWG Executive Director.

The ILEWG Science Award is given to JAXA Kaguya science team, for the successful science exploitation of the Kaguya mission after one year of operations, with the publication of unprecedented maps of lunar gravity, topography, surface chemistry and multi-band high resolution images.
The award was presented to Dr Makiko Ohtake (Principal Investigator of Multiband imager on Kaguya).

The ILEWG Technology Award is given to NASA Constellations and LRO/ LCROSS teams, for the development of advanced technologies within hard constraints of short time and cost, for the Constellations programme (Orion crew vehicle, Ares Launch vehicle, Altair Lunar Lander), the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and LCROSS Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.
The prize was presented to Dr Michael Wargo (NASA ESMD), Dr Richard Vondrak (LRO Project scientist) and Dr Gwendolyn Bart representing Dr Tony Colaprete (LCROSS Principal Investigator).

The ILEWG International Cooperation Award is given to the ISRO Chandrayaan-1 team, for the challenging accommodation and tests of the most international lunar payload ever (from 20 countries: India, ESA European Space Agency representing 17 European countries, NASA, Bulgaria), with a successful launch of the probe on the PSLV on 22 October 2008 and the upcoming lunar insertion on 8 November.
The prize was presented to Dr D. Karnik, Space Counsellor at the Indian embassy in Washington.

The ILEWG Community Service Award is given to Dr Clive Neal, lunar scientist from Notre-Dame University, for his services to the community, lunar list register, and leadership of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group.

The ILEWG Commerce Award & Outreach Award are given to the Google Lunar X- Prize Competition, for initiating the challenge of a commercial robotic race to the Moon to land a privately funded robotic rover on the Moon that is capable of completing several mission objectives. It will inspire engineers and entrepreneurs from around the world to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration. It has generated a huge interest for the Moon and space exploration in the public and the media. It received also the Young Lunar Explorers award 2008.
The prize was presented to William Pomerantz, Director of Space Projects at the X- Prize foundation.

Contact:
Prof. Bernard H. Foing (Executive Director, ILEWG)
Bernard.Foing@esa.int
Phone: +31 715655647

Websites:
ILEWG website and 10th ILEWG conference:
http:/sci.esa.int/ilewg
http://sci.esa.int/iceum10
Cape Canaveral Lunar Declaration 2008:
http://sci.esa.int/iceum10declaration
Kaguya (ILEWG Science award):
http://www.selene.jaxa.jp/index_e.htm
NASA Constellation:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html
LRO & LCROSS (ILEWG Technology award):
http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main
Chandrayaan-1 (ILEWG International Cooperation award):
http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/home.htm
Google Lunar X- Prize (ILEWG Commerce & Outreach awards, YLE Award):
http://www.googlelunarxprize.org
Lunar Explorers Society and Young Lunar Explorers:
http://www.lunarexplorers.net/

Note for Editors:
ILEWG, The International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG) is a public forum created in 1994, sponsored by the world's space agencies to support "international cooperation towards a world strategy for the exploration and utilization of the Moon - our natural satellite". The charter of ILEWG is:
- To develop an international strategy for the exploration of the Moon
- To establish a forum and mechanisms for the communication and coordination of activities
- To implement international coordination and cooperation
- In order to facilitate communication among all interested parties ILEWG agrees to establish an electronic communication network for exchange of science, technology and programmatic information related to lunar activities.

ILEWG meets regularly, at least, once a year, and leads the organization of an International Conference in order to discuss the state of lunar exploration. Formal reports are given at COSPAR meetings and to space agencies.