NASA Viper lunar rover books a ride to the moon with Astrobotic
This technical model of the Viper-Rover made a test drive in a laboratory.
NASA / Bridget Caswell, Alcyon Technical Services
NASA’s viper moon rover has a ticket for the moon for 2023. The space agency announced on Thursday that it had selected Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic for a $ 199.5 million contract to deliver the rover to South pole of our lunar neighbor.
The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (Viper) is a four-wheeled vehicle that can be used to search for water ice and to examine the moon floor.
This illustration shows what the Viper Rover could look like on the moon.
NASA Ames / Daniel Rutter
NASA plans to send early versions of some Viper instruments to the moon before the actual rover starts in late 2023.
“We are doing something that has never been done before – we are testing the instruments on the moon while the rover is being developed. The viper and the many payloads that we will be sending to the surface of the moon in the coming years will help us to realize this. ” The enormous scientific potential of the moon, “said Thomas Zurbuchen of NASA in a statement.
Viper is a facet of NASA’s big plans for the South Pole of the Moon, a place where the agency expects to find water resources that could be used for future missions.
Viper will be an early robot emissary before NASA brings astronauts to the South Pole of the Moon as part of its ambitious goal in 2024 Artemis program.
Astrobotic will use its Griffin lunar lander to deliver Viper. The company has already signed a contract with NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program Wandering lander to the moon in 2021.
Astrobotic was a participant in the Lunar XPrize competition Lander had to put on the moon and already tested a prototype of a moon rover in 2014, it has long had the cake in the sky in mind.
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