{"id":23359,"date":"2020-06-12T00:45:17","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T16:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/astrobotic-will-transport-nasas-ice-studying-viper-rover-to-the-moon-with-griffin-lunar-lander-in-2023\/"},"modified":"2020-06-12T00:45:17","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T16:45:17","slug":"astrobotic-will-transport-nasas-ice-studying-viper-rover-to-the-moon-with-griffin-lunar-lander-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/astrobotic-will-transport-nasas-ice-studying-viper-rover-to-the-moon-with-griffin-lunar-lander-in-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Astrobotic will transport NASA\u2019s ice-studying VIPER rover to the Moon with Griffin lunar lander in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"img-border featured-image wp-block-image--obfuscated\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1600\" class=\"skip-lazy wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=320&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=640&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1024&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1500&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1500w\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-attachment-id=\"2338\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/2020\/06\/11\/nasa-viper-launch-2023\/20a_media_01\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" data-orig-size=\"3840,2160\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"20A_MEDIA_01\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1024\"><br \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n<p>The Perseverance&nbsp;Mars rover isn\u2019t the only new rover in NASA\u2019s collection of robots that will explore celestial bodies in space. The slightly more aggressively named VIPER rover will be Moon-bound in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Today NASA unveiled which company has been awarded the contract to transport VIPER to the Moon using a lunar landing system: Astrobotic. The company will receive $199.5 million for the service.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-2323\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h2>VIPER<\/h2>\n<p>VIPER, or Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, will be tasked with studying water ice around the South Pole of the Moon.<\/p>\n<p>\t<span class=\"outbrain-ad-label\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<script type=\"text\/plain\">\n\t\t\twindow.adSlotsConfig = window.adSlotsConfig || [];<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tadSlotsConfig.push( {\n\t\t\t\tslotID: '\/1049447\/Outbrain',\n\t\t\t\tslotName: 'div-gpt-ad-outbrain-ad-2323',\n\t\t\t\tsizes: [300, 250],\n\t\t\t\tslotPosition: 'mid_article'\n\t\t\t} );\n\t\t<\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the first resource-mapping mission on the surface of another world, VIPER will help pave the way for a new era of human missions to the lunar surface and will bring NASA a step closer to developing a sustainable, long-term robotic and human presence on the Moon as part of the Artemis program,\u201d NASA says.<\/p>\n<p>The space agency lays out what\u2019s ahead for VIPER before and after it takes off in 2023:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Pre-launch activities: Preparation for the mission, including pre-project planning; science definition and instrument selection; landing site selection; and rover assembly and testing.<\/p>\n<p>Delivery to CLPS partner: Rover delivery to the commercial partner responsible for sending VIPER to the Moon<\/p>\n<p>Launch: Lift-off from Earth aboard the commercial provider in late 2023<\/p>\n<p>Cruise: Voyage through space to the Moon<\/p>\n<p>Descent and landing: VIPER\u2019s arrival at the South Pole of the Moon aboard a commercial lunar lander<\/p>\n<p>Instrument checks and first drive: Tests to ensure the rover is fully operational and then driving off of the lander.<\/p>\n<p>Surface operations: Rover operations on the Moon sampling water ice from four types of lunar environments. VIPER collects data for about 100 Earth days, including multiple survival periods at designated safe havens.<\/p>\n<p>Mission end: VIPER\u2019s mission ends when it encounters periods of cold and dark longer than four Earth days. In a planned location, the rover freezes in the very cold temperatures of the polar regions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2324\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/2020\/06\/11\/nasa-viper-launch-2023\/viper\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" data-orig-size=\"2000,1000\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"VIPER\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1024\" data-url=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2324 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"500\"><\/p>\n<h2>Astrobotic<\/h2>\n<p>Astrobotic, which was founded in 2007, has previously been awarded NASA contracts&nbsp;for delivering payloads to the Moon. For this mission, Astrobotic will use its Griffin lunar lander to transport VIPER.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Griffin\u2019s delivery of VIPER will be Astrobotic\u2019s second CLPS delivery, following&nbsp;the company\u2019s Peregrine lander delivery in 2021.&nbsp;In addition, Astrobotic\u2019s MoonRanger rover was previously selected by NASA for delivery to the Moon in 2022 on the lander of another CLPS partner.<\/p>\n<p>The Griffin lunar lander is Astrobotic\u2019s medium capacity lander product line, and is capable of delivering up to 500 kg of mass to the lunar surface. Griffin uses many of the same subsystems and approaches employed by the Peregrine lander, which will fly two years before VIPER. Both lander product lines put a heavy emphasis on safe and reliable delivery of customer payloads to the Moon.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2340\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/2020\/06\/11\/nasa-viper-launch-2023\/griffin_coverpage_v2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" data-orig-size=\"3840,2160\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"Griffin_CoverPage_v2\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1024\" data-url=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2340 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\"><\/p>\n<h2>Key Insights<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>NASA selected Astrobotic out of a pool of up to 14 companies<\/li>\n<li>NASA doesn\u2019t share how many companies competed for the contract<\/li>\n<li>Launch provider will be chosen and announced later this year<\/li>\n<li>Astrobotic has one other lunar lander contract with NASA<\/li>\n<li>Astrobotic described mission as a \u201cvery big deal\u201d for the company that team is \u201creally, really excited\u201d about<\/li>\n<li>Astrobotic says it has been \u201cbuilding company for this opportunity for 13 years\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>NASA held a teleconference on Thursday to discuss the announcement:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BO1w65xKrzo?version=3&amp;rel=0&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;fs=1&amp;hl=en-US&amp;autohide=2&amp;start=4140&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<h2>More<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>NASA taps SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Dynetics to develop human landing systems for Artemis moon mission<\/li>\n<li>NASA taps SpaceX\u2019s Dragon XL to deliver cargo for Gateway lunar missions<\/li>\n<li>Video: Space Launch System Core Stage at Stennis Space Center<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Perseverance&nbsp;Mars rover isn\u2019t the only new rover in NASA\u2019s collection of robots that will explore celestial bodies in space. The slightly more aggressively named VIPER rover will be Moon-bound in 2023. Today NASA unveiled which company has been awarded the contract to transport VIPER to the Moon using a lunar landing system: Astrobotic. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}