THE BI-SAT OBSERVATIONS OF THE LUNAR ATMOSPHERE ABOVE SWIRLS (BOLAS) CONCEPT IS FOR A TETHERED CUBESAT MISSION CAPABLE OF MAKING REPEATED MEASUREMENTS AT LOW ALTITUDES ABOVE THE MOON REQUIRED IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND VITAL ASPECTS OF THE LUNAR HYDROGEN CYCLE AND SPACE WEATHERING. OBTAINING OBSERVATIONS CLOSE TO THE LUNAR SURFACE IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT DUE TO THE PRESENCE OF "MASCONS", WHICH MAKE ORBITING AT LOW ALTITUDES VERY UNSTABLE. AT PRESENT, ACQUIRING REPEATED MEASUREMENTS FROM VERY LOW ALTITUDES REQUIRES A LARGE SPACECRAFT WITH THE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF FUEL (MASS) NECESSARY TO MAINTAIN ITS ORBIT. THE MOST GROUND-BREAKING ASPECT OF THE BOLAS CONCEPT IS THE USE OF TWO CUBESATS CONNECTED BY A TETHER MANY TENS OF KILOMETERS IN LENGTH, WHICH CAN BE USED TO MAKE SIMULTANEOUS HIGH AND LOW ALTITUDE MEASUREMENTS ABOVE THE SAME LOCATION ON THE MOON. CRUCIALLY, THE CENTER-OF-MASS OF THE TETHERED SPACECRAFT IS AT AN ALTITUDE WHERE THE ORBIT IS RELATIVELY STABLE AND SIGNIFICANTLY LESS PROPULSIVE MANEUVERING IS REQUIRED. THIS INNOVATION WILL ENABLE SMALLSAT MISSIONS TO MAKE IN SITU AND REMOTE SENSING MEASUREMENTS FROM LOW ALTITUDES THAT ARE CRITICAL TO ADDRESSING MANY COMPELLING QUESTIONS IN PLANETARY SCIENCE. THE BOLAS MISSION WILL FOCUS ON INVESTIGATING THE HYDROGEN CYCLE AND SPACE WEATHERING AT THE MOON, BY DETERMINING: (I) THE MECHANISMS AND DYNAMICS OF LUNAR HYDROGEN IMPLANTATION, AND THEIR DEPENDENCE ON SURFACE COMPOSITION, REGOLITH PROPERTIES, LOCAL TOPOGRAPHY, PLASMA CONDITIONS, TIME-OF-DAY, AND CRUSTAL MAGNETIC FIELDS; AND (II) HOW THIS RELATES TO THE FORMATION OF LUNAR "SWIRLS", SPACE WEATHERING PROCESSES AND THE EVOLUTION OF AIRLESS BODIES. THESE SCIENCE OBJECTIVES ARE EXTREMELY TIMELY AND HIGHLY RELEVANT TO THE 2014 NASA SCIENCE PLAN, IN PARTICULAR TO THE QUESTION OF HOW THE SOLAR SYSTEM HAS FORMED AND EVOLVED, AND WILL PRODUCE HIGH IMPACT SCIENCE. FOR THE NECESSARY NEUTRALS, FIELDS AND PLASMA MEASUREMENTS, THE PRELIMINARY SCIENCE PAYLOAD CONSISTS OF AN ION SPECTROMETER, ENERGETIC NEUTRAL ATOM IMAGER, PLASMA WAVE SYSTEM, AND MAGNETOMETER. SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT HAS ALREADY BEEN INVESTED IN MINIATURIZING THESE INSTRUMENTS FOR A CUBESAT PLATFORM. THE INSTRUMENTS WILL BE MOUNTED ON BOTH OF THE TETHERED CUBESATS IN ORDER THAT HIGH AND LOW ALTITUDE MEASUREMENTS CAN BE COMPARED. THIS WOULD BE ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT WHEN FLYING ABOVE A CRUSTAL MAGNETIC FIELD, AS IT WOULD PROVIDE CRUCIAL MEASUREMENTS RELATING TO THE FORCING FROM THE INCOMING SOLAR WIND AND THE RESPONSE OF THE PLASMA, FIELDS, AND NEUTRALS WITHIN THE "MINI-MAGNETOSPHERE". THIS WOULD THEN BE USED TO UNDERSTAND THE HYDROXYLATION, HYDRATION AND SPACE WEATHERING PROCESSES IN THESE REGIONS AND THEIR ROLE IN FORMING THE ENIGMATIC "SWIRL" PATTERNS ON THE LUNAR SURFACE. THE BOLAS CONCEPT STUDY TEAM CONSISTS OF A SMALL, EXPERT LUNAR SCIENCE AND INSTRUMENTATION TEAM AT GSFC; SPECIALISTS IN DESIGNING, INTEGRATING AND BUILDING CUBESATS AT MOREHEAD STATE UNIVERSITY (MSU); EXPERTS IN CUBESAT PROPULSION SYSTEMS AT BUSEK CO. INC.; PIONEERS IN SPACE TETHER SYSTEMS AT TETHERS UNLIMITED, INC.; AS WELL AS WORLD CLASS GSFC ENGINEERS TO PROVIDE THERMAL MANAGEMENT, ATTITUDE DETERMINATION AND CONTROL, AND FLIGHT DYNAMICS SOLUTIONS. A MAJOR TASK IN THE CONCEPT STUDY WILL BE ADDRESSING THE FEASIBILITY AND LIMITATIONS OF A TETHERED SMALLSAT, SUCH AS TETHER DEPLOYMENT (RETRACTION), STABILITY (ORBITAL CONFIGURATIONS), LIFETIME, ALTITUDE RANGE, AND ABILITY TO TARGET REGIONS-OF-INTEREST. THIS WILL INVOLVE TRADES BETWEEN TETHER LENGTH, MASS, AND DEPLOY-ABILITY, AS WELL AS SPACECRAFT SIZE, CONFIGURATION AND SCIENCE CAPABILITY. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BOLAS CONCEPT PROMISES TO SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCE THE ABILITY OF SMALLSAT MISSIONS TO ACHIEVE CUTTING EDGE PLANETARY SCIENCE.