{"id":17902,"date":"2019-10-25T20:14:13","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T12:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-will-send-viper-rover-to-the-moon-to-track-down-south-poles-water-ice\/"},"modified":"2019-10-25T20:14:13","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T12:14:13","slug":"nasa-will-send-viper-rover-to-the-moon-to-track-down-south-poles-water-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-will-send-viper-rover-to-the-moon-to-track-down-south-poles-water-ice\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA will send VIPER rover to the moon to track down south pole\u2019s water ice"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An artist\u2019s conception shows NASA\u2019s VIPER rover roaming the moon. (NASA Ames Illustration \/ Daniel Rutter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Update:<\/strong> VIPER was initially scheduled to be launched to the moon by as early as December 2022, but the current schedule sets a date no earlier than late 2023, with the delivery managed by Astrobotic.<\/em><\/p>\n

NASA says it\u2019ll send a rover to the moon\u2019s south pole to answer one of the biggest questions surrounding its Artemis moon program: Just how accessible is the water ice that\u2019s mixed in with moon dirt?<\/p>\n

The mobile robot \u2014 whose race car name, VIPER, is actually an acronym standing for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover \u2014 would be the first U.S. rover launched to the lunar surface since the moon buggies that went with the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions in 1971 and 1972.<\/p>\n

\u201cVIPER is going to rove on the south pole of the moon, and VIPER is going to assess where the water ice is,\u201d NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said today at the International Astronautical Congress in Washington, D.C. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be able to characterize the water ice, and ultimately drill and find out just how is the water ice embedded in the regolith on the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridenstine said getting the details on the distribution of water ice was important for sustainable moon exploration, because the agency is counting on being able to convert frozen H2<\/sub>O into essential supplies, including hydrogen and oxygen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater ice represents something significant: life support,\u201d he said. \u201cWater ice is oxygen to breathe, it\u2019s water to drink. \u2026 When you crack it into its parts, hydrogen and oxygen is the same rocket fuel that powered the space shuttles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on data about hydrogen content collected by robotic orbiters, scientists have determined that the moon\u2019s crust could contain hundreds of millions of tons of water ice, concentrated in permanently shadowed areas of craters at the moon\u2019s poles. It\u2019s thought that the ice was deposited over the course of billions of years by comets and asteroids hitting the moon.<\/p>\n

But NASA hasn\u2019t yet had a chance to sample lunar soil on the ground and assess the extractability of that ice. And although China has landed two rovers on the moon over the past six years, they\u2019re not equipped with the necessary soil sampling tools.<\/p>\n

How deep is the ice? How fine-grained is it? That\u2019s what VIPER aims to find out over the course of a 100-day, $250 million mission.<\/p>\n