Moon’s South Pole: NASA’s Viper Rover to Shed Light on Secrets of Permanently Shadowed Regions
Temperatures in the Moon’s Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs) can plummet to below -200C (-390F), making them ideal locations to search for ice. In an effort to uncover their secrets, NASA’s upcoming rover mission, Viper, is set to head to the Moon’s South Pole in late 2024. Equipped with headlights, Viper will drive into these PSRs, illuminating the area and potentially revealing valuable information.
Dan Andrews, the project manager of Viper at NASA’s Ames Research Center, states that the mission’s objective is to determine if the PSRs contain “blocky chunks of ice” or “little crystals mixed into a sandy mix.” This data is crucial to understanding the potential abundance and accessibility of water ice on the Moon.
However, Viper might not be the first mission to venture into a PSR. Intuitive Machines, a US firm, plans to launch the Micro-Nova hopper earlier in 2024. While lacking some of Viper’s advanced instruments, such as a drill, the Micro-Nova hopper will utilize its thrusters to “jump” into a PSR at the Moon’s South Pole, offering the first ever glimpse into these enigmatic regions.
The Moon’s South Pole has attracted several other missions as well. India and Japan are partnering on the Chandrayaan-4 mission, which will also target this region. Additionally, China has expressed its intention to land in the South Pole area, while Russia has a planned mission for the same location.
The primary driver for this interest in the Moon’s South Pole is water ice. If it exists in abundance and can be accessed, it could serve as a valuable resource for human settlements and further exploration within the solar system. The extraction of ice from lunar soil could provide a source of hydrogen, oxygen, rocket fuel, drinking water, and oxygen for future human missions.
Kevin Cannon, an assistant professor in geology at the Colorado School of Mines, explains that the simplest method to mine the ice is by extracting the icy soil and sublimating the ice using an oven-like system. This could enable the creation of propellant depots, refueling rockets to explore the outer solar system multiple times. Additionally, the availability of nearly year-round illumination in some areas of the Moon’s South Pole offers ample solar power for processing the soil into oxygen and valuable metals like aluminum.
The dreams of deep space travel and establishing human settlements on the Moon are coming closer to reality. In 2025, NASA plans to land humans on the Moon’s surface for the first time in half a century as part of its Artemis III mission, using a SpaceX lander. The exact landing site at the South Pole is yet to be determined, but the mission’s primary focus will be on learning how to operate in polar regions. Depending on the findings from previous missions like Viper, the astronauts may collect ice samples and potentially return them to Earth. Future Artemis missions could then harness this resource more effectively.
Mining other valuable minerals and metals on the Moon’s surface is also an enticing prospect for future lunar explorers. These resources could be used to construct vital infrastructure needed to sustain human presence on the Moon.
With Viper and other missions on the horizon, the secrets of the Moon’s South Pole are within reach. These endeavors pave the way for scientific discoveries, resource utilization, and the continued exploration of our celestial neighbor.