NASA postponed the VIPER flight, which previously had a launch target in November 2023. This delay certainly happened not without reason.
VIPER is a special NASA robot that they designed to hunt for water on the lunar surface. NASA has previously made the launch target of this robot.
However, for some reason NASA had to delay the launch of their robot one year after the original plan.
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Why NASA Delays VIPER Flights?
VIPER which stands for Volatile Investigating Polar Exploration Rover is a NASA robot that has a launch schedule of November 2023.
The robot launch is part of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to send humans back to the moon.
Basically this robot explorer is a formidable seeker. VIPER has special agile wheels, drills and also science instruments.
NASA designed the VIPER robot to hunt for water ice that is thought to be on the lunar surface. This robot will be tasked with finding out the amount and how much water is scattered and its shape.
That way, if there are future missions to mine lunar water, then there’s already a better idea of how to find them and what tools they’ll need.
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Delayed Until 2024
According to The Verge, to be able to bring VIPER to the moon, NASA must contract a company called Astrobotic through the CLPS program.
They are useful initiatives in galvanizing private companies into building a commercial landing platform that sits on the moon.
Astrobotic itself is currently working on a lunar landing robot fleet project. They plan to use the Griffin landing in the future and take VIPER to the moon.
However, on Monday (07/18/2022), the space agency announced that it had requested additional testing of the Griffin landing, which led NASA to delay the VIPER flight to the moon.
NASA postponed the launch of their exploratory robot to launch in late 2024, one year after the previous date.
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Value Added Contract
The change in VIPER’s launch date made NASA have to give Astrobotic a large additional contract value.
At least NASA provided an additional 67.8 million US dollars, bringing the total contract value of the company in the VIPER mission to 320.4 million US dollars.
Although the VIPER flight was delayed, NASA still plans to carry out an instrument version of the robot flight.
Later the robot will make two commercial landings that come to the moon later this year. One of the landers is currently being developed by Intuitive Machines in Houston.
While the other landing is also smaller named Peregrine. This Peregrine instrument is currently being developed by Astrobotic.
That’s the reason NASA postponed VIPER flights to the moon. At least now NASA has time to make more thorough preparations in launching their robot on the moon so that the risk of failure will also be smaller. (R10/HR-Online)
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