Project Sponsor : NASA
Start Date : Launch in late 2024
Faculty Investigator : Dr. Masatoshi “Toshi” Hirabayashi
Project Status : Ongoing
The NASA/VIPER is a rover mission to be deployed at Mons Mouton, near the lunar south pole for directly investigating water ice and other volatiles hosted on the surface and subsurface of the Moon. VIPER is a part of ARTEMIS missions and is the first resource mapping to be implemented outside of Earth. The insights gained from the VIPER rover’s exploration will play a vital role in establishing sustainable, long-term scientific missions and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) programs, particularly in the lunar poles.
As members of the VIPER Science Team, our focus revolves around characterizing the regolith structure at the mission site and analyzing its thermal environment. Our goal is to find potential locations with ice-bearing characteristics, where drill cores can be collected and tested for volatiles. We also develop thermal models using FEM to predict how the VIPER rover and its science activities will affect the surroundings in the cold, permanently shadowed regions (PSRs).
Team Members: Hephzibah Christopher (PhD student, EAS), Sara Sole (MS student, AE)