August 2020-CIRIR Restitution makes a big step forward. He is joined by the prestigious LPI, the culmination of discussions undertaken in 2018 by Philippe Lambert with LPI. LPI is a globally recognized research institute in the study of the solar system and its members are heavily involved in defining the strategy for planetary science research in the United States and in the design of exploration missions of the solar system. Created in 1968, the LPI’s initial objective was to encourage and facilitate international cooperation around the scientific exploitation of samples collected on the surface of the Moon by American astronauts and curated at NASA-Johnson Space Center (Houston- Texas). Philippe Lambert, who worked there at the beginning of the 1980s, was inspired by it for the CIRIR, with much more modest means and a more “targeted” objective, however with a similar approach and aim: to encourage and facilitate international cooperation around the scientific exploitation of samples collected on the surface of… Earth, and a similar target: the geology of the Moon, Mars, and other planetary objects, yet with mission costs beyond comparison with those of space missions.
In addition, the LPI is strongly involved in scientific communication and training program. LPI is training students in planetology from all over the world and training American astronauts. In this context, the LPI organizes training at two impact sites in the world: Meteor Crater, Arizona, USA and Sudbury impact, Ontario, Canada. LPI added the Rochechouart impact structure to the list in August 2020.
