VIPER's flight to the Moon is part of NASA's
Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS,
project, an initiative leveraging the capabilities
of commercial industry to send scientific
instruments and technology demonstrations to the
Moon quickly. As part of its award, Astrobotic is
responsible for end-to-end services for delivery
of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover,
including integration with its Griffin lander,
launch from Earth and landing in a polar region on the Moon.
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Thomas Zurbuchen: VIPER represents a very
different development paradigm.
We are developing each instrument for launch
on a CLPS ahead of VIPER, totally flipping
on its head how we normally do this.
This is truly creative.
The VIPER mission will bring us a significant step
closer to NASA's ultimate goal of sustainable,
long-term presence on the Moon, making it possible
for humans to eventually explore Mars and beyond.
Lori Glaze: VIPER will be the first resource
mapping mission on the surface of another
celestial body.
VIPER will get a close-up view of a location where
we believe water ice may be present and will
measure water ice concentration on the Moon
for the first time.
With this close-up view, we can begin to develop
water resource maps of the Moon that identify
the best potential spots to harvest water ice.
Water is extremely critical for deep space exploration.
It is a resource of direct value for humans
and can be turned into oxygen for respiration
and hydrogen as fuel supply.
The measurements that VIPER's instruments will
make can help us understand the source and
distribution of the water and other volatiles on
the Moon, giving us insight into the evolution
of the Moon and the Earth-Moon system.