1 of 3 | Engineers undertake VIPER lunar rover mobility platform testing at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Sandusky, Ohio. Photo by Bridget Caswell/NASA Glenn Research Center
March 8 (UPI) -- NASA officials intend to determine the moon's potential for supporting life during long-term missions with the space agency's first mobile robotic lunar rover deployed with the help of commercial partners.
NASA has scheduled a 100-day, uncrewed mission to the lunar south pole late this year, with the goal to locate lunar ice that might be used to support long-term missions on the moon. The robotic Artemis lunar rover will be its primary ice exploration and research tool.
"Humans have been studying the moon from afar for thousands of years, but it wasn't until NASA sent the first people there with the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 that its soils could be examined in detail," NASA's VIPER mission web page says.
"The moon rocks the astronauts brought home for laboratory analysis were found to be bone dry, but we now know that those conclusions did not tell the whole story of water on the moon."
NASA said its orbiter and impactor missions in the 1990s led to the space agency in 2009 confirming the existence of subsurface ice at the lunar south pole. That ice is a "game-changer" when it comes to long-term missions to the moon, Mars and beyond, the agency said.
"Bringing everything we need from Earth for long-term exploration in space would be very costly," NASA said. "Using resources found on the moon, like water, could be a game-changer for human space exploration."
Determining the form
The Artemis lunar rover is to locate and analyze ice on the moon's surface and beneath it and create resource maps for future missions. The rover is intended to determine the ice's form, such as ice crystals or possibly ice molecules that are bound together by chemicals or other substances.
Its 100 days of ice prospecting the Nobile Region of the moon's south pole will enable the Artemis rover to spot future mission sites by helping NASA scientists find locations with water and other natural resources that can be used to support long-term missions there.
The space agency's Artemis lunar rover is a volatiles investigating polar exploration rover commonly referred to as VIPER. The Artemis is NASA's first robotic lunar rover, which would complete its mission without astronauts directly operating it.
Rover is about the same size as a golf cart, measuring 5 feet by 5 feet by 8 feet and weighing 992 pounds. It has three spectrometers, a 1-meter drill and a solar-charged battery with peak power of 450 watts. The rover's top speed is about one-half mph, and NASA has a goal of the VIPER traveling 12 miles during its mission.
The lunar rover will communicate with NASA mission officials in real time using X-band direct to Earth with no relay over the Deep Space Network.
Lander to deploy rover
NASA is teaming with SpaceX and Astrobotic Technology to deliver the Artemis rover to the moon. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will deliver Astrobotic's Griffin lander to the moon, which will deploy the rover upon landing.
"Griffin will safely deploy VIPER to the lunar surface and begin its important mission to locate water-ice on the Moon," Pete Frye, Astrobotic's mechanical and fluid systems manager, said in a statement.
"Griffin is also equipped with Astrobotic's advanced Terrain Relative Navigation landing tech, ensuring a safe and precise landing to maximize the science that can be accomplished."
NASA announced the VIPER mission in 2019 and estimates its total cost at $433.5 million. It's NASA's first commercial lunar payload delivery service expedition in which commercial deliveries will perform science experiments, test technologies and demonstrate capabilities that help NASA explore the moon to prepare for future human missions. The launch is scheduled from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The United States recently returned to the moon after a nearly half-century absence when its unmanned Odysseus mission landed there Feb. 22. The Odysseus mission was complicated by a lander that tipped over onto its side during its touchdown and ran out of power a week early.
The Griffin lander's Terrain Relative Navigation landing technology is designed to prevent such mishaps when landing on the moon. The technology is especially important given the unknown nature of the moon's surface near its south pole.
Significant challenges
NASA's VIPER lunar mission faces many unique challenges to overcome for the mission to succeed. The space agency said extreme temperatures that vary by up to 500 degrees F between the sunny and dark sides of the moon raise the potential for the lunar rover to overheat and freeze up, which might compromise the mission.
NASA mission operators on Earth will control the rover using real-time communications that will have a slight delay due to the distance from the Earth to the moon. The moon's south pole typically has lighting that ranges from dim to dark, so navigating its surface will be difficult given the lack of available images that detail the terrain.
NASA said it also is unsure of the consistency of the moon's surface at its south pole, so it's unknown is the surface will be compacted and hard or soft and loose.
The Artemis lunar rover can travel sideways, diagonally or spin in a circle, so it has the best chance to maneuver out of any trouble spots that it might encounter. It also can "walk" by moving each wheel independently of the others instead of having them connected with axles.
Route planning is another challenge that NASA officials said matters greatly given the extremely long shadows that move quickly but linger for a week or more.
The lunar rover's reliance on solar power requires it to stay in sunlight as much as possible. Darkness on the moon's southern pole could last for a week, so the Artemis lunar rover will park in relatively safe areas where it can stay for several days while awaiting the sunlight to return.
NASA's lunar rover operators also can park it on top of higher elevations, where the darkness seldom lasts for more than four days. For that to happen, though, routes must be planned in advance, which is difficult given the lack of detailed imagery for the moon's south pole.
The Artemis rover also will explore the insides of craters where the sun never shines, so it will be NASA's first rover to include headlights. The rover will include a combination camera and lighting to make it possible to travel and record the journey while in the dark.
NASA in 2017 announced its Artemis program, which aims to put people back on the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.
