NASA on Monday (20/9/2021) announced that it would land a robot Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) in the Nobile Crater or the South Pole of the Moon.
NASA is carrying out a mission with its VIPER robot in 2023, which will confirm the presence of water ice just below the surface.
The goal is to plan to turn the water ice in Nobile Crater into rocket fuel for missions to Mars and further into the cosmos.
“Nobile Crater is an impact crater near the south pole that was born through a collision with a smaller celestial body,” said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Division of Planetary Sciences.
Nobile Crater is claimed to be the coldest region in the solar system and has so far only been investigated remotely using sensors such as those in the Solar System. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
“The VIPER robot will approach and blend into the lunar soil, even drilling a few feet down,” Glazer added.
Quoted from Between, The dimensions of the VIPER robot are similar to golf carts, measuring approximately 1.5 meters X 1.5 meters X 2.5 meters and weighing 950 pounds or 430 kilograms.
VIPER can be driven independently realtime because the distance from the earth is relatively shorter, which is about 200,000 miles. The robot is also faster, estimated to reach speeds of 0.5 mph.
The robot is also equipped with sophisticated solar power, with a mechanism that runs sideways like a crab so that the panel continues to point towards the sun for charging.
Specifically and specifically NASA’s mission is actually to find out how frozen water reached the moon, how it can last for billions of years and where the water is flowing now,
The mission, part of Artemis, is America’s plan to return humans to the moon. The first mission was actually set for 2024, but is expected to miss due to various factors.(ant/wld/ipg)
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