NASA is continue full steam forward with itsArtemis political platform , which will see humans retort to the Moon after 2024 . The goal is to have a lasting base there but for this to come after , we ’re going to need body of water . fortuitously , there is water ice on the southerly pole of the Moon and NASA is planning to send a rover to investigate it .
The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover ( VIPER ) is designed to cast the lunar surface for about 100 day , roll up grunge samples and roaming for miles . It is expected to body politic on the Moon by December 2022 and will help produce the first map of water imagination on the Moon .
Water is not just important for being piddle . It can also be used to distill oxygen and atomic number 1 that can be used for fuel and to create a regular supply of air . Previous observance from ambit suggest that millions of dozens of water water ice are locate on the Moon and VIPER will assist us sympathize how best to access these resourcefulness .
“ The key to subsist on the Moon is water supply – the same as here on Earth , ” Daniel Andrews , task manager of the VIPER mission and director of engineering at NASA ’s Ames Research Center , said in astatement . “ Since the confirmation of lunar water - ice 10 age ago , the interrogative now is if the Moon could really contain the amount of resources we need to live off - world . This scouter will help us answer the many questions we have about where the pee is , and how much there is for us to habituate . ”
The meth deposits found in the permanent shadow of sure craters are one of the objective but the rover will also explore grime endanger to sun as well as grime only exposed to occasional light . It will apply a Neutron Spectrometer System , which can detect “ fuddled ” signatures below the surface . These can then be accompany up with the rover ’s 1 - meter ( 3 - foot ) drill . The rover is also fit out with two instruments to measure the composition of the collected sample . The focal point is water but this is not the only interesting resource on the Moon .
The rover is part of the wider Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program and is a crucial tone for exploring the Moon and , in the future tense , Mars .
