It’s been a long since astronauts & scientists have not stepped on the lunar surface. The long ambitious history of man’s landing on the moon has not been put to present use currently. Therefore, NASA scientists have made it a mission to send the astronauts to space this decade. They are planning on a moon rover mission to be executed by 2023.

The Viper mission of NASA and the ambitious ARTEMIS are two projects collaborated in one that is put forward by scientists to explore the water on the moon. They will assist the scientists on Earth in understanding the difficulty level in finding water-ice craters on the moon and extracting water from there. This mission is important for the purpose of ice mining on the Earth’s sole satellite so that it could be used for rocket fuel & drinking purposes.

Picture courtesy: NASA, the moon rover Viper

What is so special about this Moon rover?

The first-ever moon rover, Viper, is set to be launched by 2003 and the preparations for the same are in proceedings. But an important thing to note is the specialty of the moon rover.

Through data and reports, we know that there are billion tons of lunar ice that are not yet open to sunlight for ages. Even the future lies in the dark for this abundant amount of lunar ice. Hence, scientists have decided to explore it in a timely manner, and if it could serve any purpose to humanity.

Moreover, the permanent shadow zone (with a temperature of -223 degrees Celsius) creates a very cold environment on the moon to sustain the frozen deposits. This accounts for a little challenge to design the Viper.

Picture courtesy: NASA, snapshots of the Artemis mission

It is loaded with specialties like,

• A one of a kind rover to have headlights to cave the darkness on the ice-craters on the moon.
• Also, a lander and a private spaceflight are present in it which would be operated by Scientists here on the Earth.
• Its main mission is to find out: where the ice is located, on what level is its concentration, and how deep it is inside the lunar surface.
• Since it is basically going to operate on the South Pole of the moon, thus, it would be a great challenge to survive in such cold. The South Pole is generally warm in the day and cold at night. Bearing such changes in temperatures is the main challenge.
• It needs to have solar panels installed in the direction of the Sun so that it doesn’t run out of power at night and continue operating.

If everything goes well the scientists are sure about changing the history of how humans sustain on the moon, because the Artemis program will feature the first woman ever and the first person of color landing on the Moon.

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