NASA's New Rover Headed to the Moon to Search for Water-Ice

NASA is ready to go back to the moon, but before humanity returns to its closest celestial neighbor, it wants to send a rover the size of a golf cart to the lunar South Pole where it will search for signs of water-ice, the agency announced Friday.

The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover — or VIPER — is designed to sample soil from the lunar surface to help scientists search for evidence of water-ice. The rover's mission is planned for delivery to the lunar surface in December 2022 and is set to last 100 days. The rover would use its time on the surface to collect data as well as sample any water-ice it finds that would be crucial for any future long-term missions on the moon.

"The key to living on the Moon is water – the same as here on Earth," said Daniel Andrews, the project manager of the VIPER mission and director of engineering at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. "Since the confirmation of lunar water-ice ten years ago, the question now is if the Moon could really contain the amount of resources we need to live off-world. This rover will help us answer the many questions we have about where the water is, and how much there is for us to use."

In order to search for evidence of water-ice, the rover, which is about the size of a golf cart, would one of its four scientific instruments known as a "Neutron Spectrometer System," (NSS) to detect “wet” areas below the surface that merit further investigation. When scientists come across an area they think shows signs of water, VIPER will then stop and deploy a drill appropriately named "The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain," - or TRIDENT - which digs up soil cuttings from up to a meter beneath the surface.

"It’s incredibly exciting to have a rover going to the new and unique environment of the South Pole to discover where exactly we can harvest that water," said Anthony Colaprete, VIPER’s project scientist. "VIPER will tell us which locations have the highest concentrations and how deep below the surface to go to get access to water."

NASA believes the moon harbors millions of tons of water-ice, which in addition to long-term survival for any colonies, could also be used to create hydrogen for rocket fuel and oxygen for breathing. Ideally, VIPER would find an area large enough that could sustain a long-term human presence on the moon's surface.

The rover is part of NASA's Artemis Program, which is the agency's latest attempt to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024 as well as establish a permanent moon base to help the agency's mission for Mars exploration.

Photo: NASA