  LAMOST (Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope) is a
Chinese national scientific research facility operated by National Astronomical
Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC). After two years of
commissioning beginning in 2009, the telescope, instruments, software systems
and operations are nearly ready to begin the main science survey. Through a
spectral survey of millions of objects in much of the northern sky, LAMOST will
enable research in a number of contemporary cutting edge topics in
astrophysics, such as: discovery of the first generation stars in the Galaxy,
pinning down the formation and evolution history of galaxies especially
theMilky Way and its central massive black hole, looking for signatures of dark
matter distribution and possible sub-structures in the Milky Way halo. To
maximize the scientific potential of the facility, wide national participation
and international collaboration has been emphasized. The survey has two major
components: the LAMOST ExtraGAlactic Survey (LEGAS), and the LAMOST Experiment
for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (LEGUE). Until LAMOST reaches its
full capability, the LEGUE portion of the survey will use the available
observing time, starting in 2012. An overview of the LAMOST project and the
survey that will be carried out in next five to six years is presented in this
paper. The science plan for the whole LEGUE survey, instrumental
specifications, site conditions, the descriptions of the current on-going pilot
survey, including its footprints and target selection algorithm, will be
presented as separate papers in this volume.
