Illustration of NASA ’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover ( VIPER ) on the surface of the MoonNASA Ames / Daniel Rutter / NASA Ames / Daniel Rutter
NASA likes to bring its missions closer to place fan around the world — especially to the young generation to get them interested in scientific discipline subjects — and part of these efforts involves the opportunity for people to wing their name on spacecraft lead off to explore parts of our solar system .
The next opportunity to submit your name for comprehension on a NASA rocket flight is the VIPER missionary work , which sport the space agency ’s first - ever robotic moonshine rover .
Illustration of NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) on the surface of the MoonNASA Ames/Daniel Rutter / NASA Ames/Daniel Rutter
VIPER ( volatile Investigating Polar Exploration Rover ) will found afterwards this yr and is sic to research the lunar South Pole , a region that include some permanently dwarf areas that are of not bad stake to scientist who are searching for the front of water glass . This important imagination could eventually be harvested to sustain human exploration on the moonshine and also Mars , and even be work to make fuel to might rocket launches from our nearest neighbor .
NASA ’s VIPER robotwill be the first rover to assess the location and concentration of weewee sparkler and other resource , so it ’s determination could potentially be a secret plan auto-changer for the way we devise for and carry on retentive - length missionary work in space .
To fly your name to the moon , simply head toNASA ’s particular webpageand enter your name and a PIN code that will enable to get at your embarkation authorize closer to the launch of the VIPER mission , which is currently scheduled for November 2024 . So far more than 13,000 masses have ratify up to send their name to the moon .
The VIPER mission is require to last 100 twenty-four hour period , during which fourth dimension the robotic bird of passage will move several miles over volcanic crater rims and into permanently shadowed Crater , sampling different variety of lunar soils and surroundings as it goes .
“ VIPER represents the first resource single-valued function mission on another heavenly body and will heighten our understanding of how frozen water and other volatile are distributed on the moon , their cosmic origin , and what has kept them uphold in the lunar soil for billions of years , ” NASA says on its website .
NASA had hop to set in motion VIPER in November 2023 but delayed it by a year to carry out additional terra firma examination of Astrobotic ’s Griffin lunar lander that will deliver the bird of passage to the lunar aerofoil .
