NASA has chosen a moon landing site for its ice research rover – franceinfo

NASA announced on Monday, September 20, that it had selected the Nobile crater, near the South Pole of the Moon, to land its ice research robot on the moon in 2023. The US space agency hopes the rover will be able to confirm the presence of icy water just below the lunar surface, which could one day be converted into rocket fuel for missions to Mars.

“The Nobile crater is an impact crater near the South Pole that arose from a collision with another smaller celestial body”Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s planetary science division, told reporters. It is one of the coldest regions in the solar system. It has so far only been probed remotely, using sensors such as those of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. “The rover will get to know the lunar soil very closely, drilling one meter deep”, added Lori Glazer.

The robot is named VIPER, acronym for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover. Heavy at 430 kg, its dimensions are similar to those of a golf cart and it is powered by solar energy. Unlike the rovers used on Mars, it can be flown in real time, due to the much shorter distance between the Earth and the Moon (only 300,000 km). It is also faster, traveling at around 0.8 km / h.

Thanks to this robot, scientists will seek to know how the ice water reached the Moon or how it remained preserved for billions of years. The mission is part of Artemis, the American project to send humans to the moon. The first manned mission is officially scheduled for 2024, but will certainly take place much later since several parts of the project are already late.