US space agency awards major commercial lunar lander contract

26th June 2020

By: Rebecca Campbell

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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The US space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), has awarded a $199.5-million contract to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, based space robotics company Astrobotic Technology to land Nasa’s Viper lunar rover at the Moon’s south pole in late 2023. The Viper will be carried to the lunar surface by Astrobotic’s Griffin lander. This contract is part of Nasa’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) policy, which will use commercial industry partners to rapidly deliver scientific instruments and technology demonstrators to the moon.

“The Viper rover and the commercial partnership that will deliver it to the moon are a prime example of how the scientific community and US industry are making Nasa’s lunar exploration vision a reality,” highlighted Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine. “Commercial partners are changing the landscape of space exploration, and Viper is going to be a big boost to our efforts to send the first woman and the next man to the lunar surface in 2024 through the Artemis programme.”

Viper is an acronym for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover. Its primary mission will be to seek water ice on or just below the lunar surface. It will carry four science instruments to analyse various types of samples and it will have a drill that will be able to bore just over a metre deep into the moon’s surface. Viper will have a mass of about 455 kg and will operate over a distance of “several miles” (in Nasa’s words). Its mission will last 100 Earth days. Initial versions of its three water-hunting instruments will be deployed on the moon on earlier landers, also acquired under CLPS, and scheduled to touch down on the lunar surface in 2021 and 2022.

“CLPS is a totally creative way to advance lunar exploration,” affirmed Nasa associate administrator for science Thomas Zurbuchen. “We’re doing something that’s never been done before – testing instruments on the moon as the rover is being developed. Viper and the many payloads we will send to the lunar surface in the next few years are going to help us realise the moon’s vast scientific potential.”

“It is an enormous honour and responsibility to be chosen by Nasa to deliver this mission of national importance,” said Astrobotic CEO John Thornton. “Astrobotic’s lunar logistics services were created to open a new era on the moon. Delivering Viper to look for water and setting the stage for the first human crew since Apollo embodies our mission as a company.”

In May 2019 Astrobotic won a $79.5-million CLPS contract from Nasa to deliver 14 payloads to the Moon, using its Peregrine lunar lander, in July next year. In July 2019, it was awarded another Nasa CLPS contract, worth $5.6-million, to build (in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University) a 13 kg autonomous lunar rover called Moon Ranger. This will be landed on the moon in 2022, using a lander provided by another commercial company under the CLPS programme.

Regarding the Viper/Griffin mission, Astrobotic will be responsible for all the necessary end-to-end services, including integrating the rover with the lander, their launch from Earth and their landing on the moon. No announcement has yet been made as to which company will provide the launch rocket.

Viper will collect the data that will be used to create the first water resource maps for the moon. This data will also be used to determine the landing sites for crewed Artemis missions to the lunar surface. Access to water on the moon will permit extended human lunar missions.

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the sister of Apollo. The Artemis programme is Nasa’s first crewed programme named after a female figure.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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