The VIPER rover is part of the Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program managed by the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and it is meant to support the crewed Artemis program. The water distribution and form must be better understood before it can be evaluated as a potential resource within any evolvable lunar or Mars campaign. The VIPER rover, currently in development, will have a size similar to a golf cart (around 1.4 × 1.4 × 2 m), and will be tasked with prospecting for lunar resources, especially for water ice, mapping its distribution, and measuring its depth and purity. The image shows the distribution of surface ice at the Moon's south pole (left) and north pole (right) as viewed by NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M 3) spectrometer onboard India's Chandrayaan-1 orbiter. Blue shows the spectral signature of hydroxide, green shows the brightness of the surface as measured by reflected infrared radiation from the Sun and red shows a mineral called pyroxene. Overview Orbital survey of the Moon taken by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument on India's Chandrayaan-1 orbiter. Artist's conception of the VIPER rover on the moon (Image courtesy NASA Ames Research Center) ![]() Astrobotic is responsible for end-to-end services for delivery of VIPER, including integration with its Griffin lander, launch from Earth, and landing on the Moon. VIPER will be carried aboard Astrobotic's Griffin lander as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. On 11 June 2020, NASA awarded Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US$199.5 million to launch VIPER to the lunar south pole. The mission builds on a previous NASA rover concept called Resource Prospector, which was cancelled in 2018. The rover will be tasked with prospecting for lunar resources in permanently shadowed areas in the lunar south pole region, especially by mapping the distribution and concentration of water ice. These include wind tunnel testing and supercomputer simulations of the SLS ( Space Launch System) rocket development of the Astrobee free-flying robots that could assist future astronauts on missions space biosciences research that will help keep crew healthy and flight simulations at the Vertical Motion Simulator, where NASA’s human landing system program partners analyzed and improved early lander concepts to deliver humans to the lunar surface as part of the Artemis missions.VIPER ( Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) is a lunar rover developed by NASA ( Ames Research Center), and currently planned to be delivered to the surface of the Moon in November 2024. ![]() The astronaut candidates – including former Ames intern Deniz Burnham – also visited other Ames facilities, learning about their contributions to Artemis and more. For Artemis I, launched in November 2022, material used in the Orion crew module’s heat shield was tested here at Ames. Work performed in the arc jet will help ensure all Artemis astronauts return home safely. ![]() In the arc jet facilities, Ames researchers test advanced materials that protect spacecraft from the extremely high temperatures of entering an atmosphere – whether Earth’s, Mars’, or another in our solar system.Īmong the candidates aiming to join America’s astronaut corps are women and men who will potentially fly on future Artemis missions, performing science on the Moon and exploring the resources it holds. NASA’s current class of astronaut candidates toured the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, including a stop at the Arc Jet Complex, on Wednesday, Nov.
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