Credit: NASA/Daniel RutterVIPER Rovers new mast enhances its ability to explore and study the lunar South Pole, featuring sophisticated navigation tools and interaction antennas necessary for its 100-day mission.NASAs VIPER– brief for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover– now stands taller and more capable than ever. And since the navigation cams are mounted up high, it offers the VIPER group a near human-like perspective as the rover checks out locations of clinical interest around the Moons South Pole.NASAs VIPER robotic Moon rover stands taller than ever after engineers incorporated its mast in a tidy space at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. Placed next to the rovers two navigation electronic cameras, the lights include ranges of blue LEDs that the rover navigation team figured out would offer the best exposure offered the tough lighting conditions on the Moon.In order to transfer large amounts of data across the 240,000 miles (384,000 km) that separate Earth and the Moon, VIPER has a gimballing precision-pointed, high-gain antenna that will send out information along an extremely focused, narrow beam.
An artists idea of the completed design of NASAs Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER. VIPER will get a close-up view of the area and concentration of ice and other resources at the Moons South Pole, bringing us a considerable action closer to NASAs ultimate goal of a long-lasting existence on the Moon– making it possible to eventually explore Mars and beyond. Credit: NASA/Daniel RutterVIPER Rovers new mast improves its capability to explore and study the lunar South Pole, including advanced navigation tools and communication antennas essential for its 100-day mission.NASAs VIPER– short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover– now stands taller and more capable than ever. Whichs thanks to its mast.VIPERs mast, and the suite of instruments attached to it, looks a lot like the rovers “neck” and “head.” The mast instruments are developed to help the group of rover chauffeurs and real-time scientists send out commands and get information while the rover navigates around dangerous crater slopes, boulders, and places that danger communications blackouts. The group will utilize these instruments, along with four science payloads, to scout the lunar South Pole. During its around 100-day objective, VIPER seeks to much better understand the origin of water and other resources on the Moon, in addition to the severe environment where NASA plans to send out astronauts as part of the Artemis campaign.A team of engineers raises the mast into place atop NASAs VIPER robotic Moon rover in a tidy space at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credit: NASA/Helen Arase VargasVIPERs Navigation and Communication CapabilitiesThe tip of VIPERs mast stands around eight feet (2.5 meters) above its wheel rims and is geared up with a set of stereo navigation cams, a pair of powerful LED headlights, as well as a low- and high-gain antenna to send data to and receive information from the Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas on Earth.The stereo navigation cams– the “eyes” of the rover– are mounted to a part of the mast that gimbals, allowing the team to pan them as much as 400 degrees around and tilt them up and down as much as 75 degrees. The VIPER team will utilize the navigation electronic cameras to take sweeping panoramas of the rovers images and environments to discover and more research study surface area features such as rocks and craters as small as four inches (10 cm) in diameter– or about the length of a pencil– from as far as 50 feet (15 meters) away. And because the navigation electronic cameras are accumulated high, it gives the VIPER group a near human-like viewpoint as the rover explores areas of clinical interest around the Moons South Pole.NASAs VIPER robotic Moon rover stands taller than ever after engineers incorporated its mast in a tidy room at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credit: NASA/Josh ValcarcelUnique Features and Data TransmissionDue to the extremes of light and darkness found on the Moon, VIPER will be the very first planetary rover to have headlights. The headlights will cast a narrow, long-distance beam– just like an automobiles high beams– to assist the group reveal obstacles or fascinating terrain functions that would otherwise stay concealed in the shadows. Placed beside the rovers two navigation electronic cameras, the lights include selections of blue LEDs that the rover navigation team determined would supply the finest exposure provided the challenging lighting conditions on the Moon.In order to transmit large amounts of information throughout the 240,000 miles (384,000 km) that separate Earth and the Moon, VIPER has a gimballing precision-pointed, high-gain antenna that will send out info along a really focused, narrow beam. Its low-gain antenna also will send data but using radio waves at a much lower data rate. The ability for the antennas to maintain the proper orientation, even while driving, serves a vital function: without it, the rover can not get commands while in movement on the Moon and can not transmit any of its information back to Earth for researchers to accomplish their mission objectives. All that data is then transferred from the DSN to the Multi-Mission Operations and Control Center at NASAs Ames Research Center in Californias Silicon Valley, where rover operations are based.Testing and Mission PreparationPrior to installation on the rover, engineers put the mast through a range of screening. This included time in a thermal vacuum chamber to validate the white finishing surrounding the mast insulates as planned. After the masts combination in the clean room at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston, the team also successfully performed check-outs of its elements and for the very first time sent out data through the rover utilizing its antennas.VIPER is part of the Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program and is handled by the Planetary Science Division of NASAs Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. VIPER will release to the Moon aboard Astrobotics Griffin lunar lander on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket as part of NASAs Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. It will reach its destination at Mons Mouton near the Moons South Pole.