2022 Rover to Look for Ice at Moon's South Pole
RandomFactor writes:
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has announced that the space agency is planning to send a rover to the moon in 2022 to search for water ice.
In a speech at the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Bridenstine said the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission would look for ice on or below the surface of the moon at its south pole, a key resource for future human missions.
"We actually have a mission right now that I'm very pleased to announce, it's called VIPER," he said. VIPER would fly to a moon on a commercial lander through the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
"VIPER is going to rover on the south pole of the moon and VIPER is going to assess where the water ice is," he continued. "We're going to characterize the water ice, and ultimately drill and find out just how the water ice is embedded in the regolith on the moon."
The mission will take advantage of the extended sunlight of the lunar day at the pole to last for 100 days as the rover drills (up to one meter) looking for ice.
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