NASA is inviting folks to ship their names to the outside of the Moon aboard the company’s first robot lunar rover, VIPER – brief for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover. The rover will embark on a challenge to the lunar South Pole to resolve the mysteries of the Moon’s water and higher perceive the surroundings the place NASA plans to land the primary lady and primary individual of colour underneath its Artemis program.
As a part of the “Ship Your Identify with VIPER” marketing campaign, NASA will settle for names gained prior to 11:59 p.m. EST, March 15. As soon as amassed, the company will take the names and fix them to the rover.
So as to add your identify, consult with:
The website additionally allows individuals to create and obtain a digital memento – a boarding go to the VIPER challenge that includes their identify – to commemorate the enjoy. Members are inspired to percentage their requests on social media the use of the hashtag #SendYourName.
“With VIPER, we’re going to find out about and discover portions of the Moon’s floor nobody has ever been to prior to – and with this marketing campaign, we’re inviting the sector to be a part of that dangerous but rewarding adventure,” mentioned Nicola Fox, affiliate administrator, Science Challenge Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Simply assume: Our names will journey alongside as VIPER navigates around the rugged terrain of the lunar South Pole and gathers treasured information that can assist us higher perceive the historical past of the Moon and the surroundings the place we plan to ship Artemis astronauts.”
This marketing campaign is like different NASA initiatives that experience enabled tens of thousands and thousands of folks to ship their names to journey at the side of Artemis I, a number of Mars spacecraft, and the company’s upcoming Europa Clipper challenge. It attracts from the company’s lengthy custom of transport inspirational messages on spacecraft that experience explored our sun gadget and past.
“Our VIPER is a game-changer,” mentioned Daniel Andrews, VIPER’s mission supervisor at NASA’s Ames Analysis Middle in California’s Silicon Valley. “It’s the primary challenge of its sort, increasing our figuring out of the place lunar sources might be harvested to enhance a long-term human presence at the Moon.”
In past due 2024, Astrobotic Applied sciences’ Griffin Challenge One is scheduled to ship VIPER to the lunar floor after launching aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Cape Canaveral House Power Station in Florida. As soon as there, VIPER will depend on its sun panels and batteries for its more or less 100-day challenge to live to tell the tale excessive temperatures and difficult lights stipulations, whilst powering a set of science tools designed to assemble information concerning the traits and concentrations of lunar ice and different imaginable sources.
NASA’s VIPER supply is a part of its CLPS (Industrial Lunar Payload Services and products) initiative underneath the Artemis program. With CLPS, in addition to with human exploration close to the lunar South Pole, NASA will identify a long-term cadence of Moon missions in preparation for sending the primary astronauts to Mars.
The rover is a part of the LDEP (Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program), controlled through the Science Challenge Directorate on the company’s headquarters and is achieved throughout the Exploration Science Technique and Integration Place of work. Along with managing the challenge, NASA Ames leads the challenge’s science, techniques engineering, real-time rover floor operations, and flight instrument. The rover {hardware} is designed and constructed through NASA’s Johnson House Middle in Houston, whilst the tools are supplied through NASA Ames, the company’s Kennedy House Middle in Florida, and industrial spouse Honeybee Robotics in Altadena, California.
For more info about VIPER, consult with:
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Karen Fox / Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1275 / 202-358-2546
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
Rachel Hoover
Ames Analysis Middle, Silicon Valley
650-604-4789
rachel.hoover@nasa.gov
