The new map of NASA plans the lunar unit for Viper

NASA is currently working on putting a new lunar rover on the surface of the Moon, and part of that work is developing a map of where the Rover will be held. To know where the Rover will drive, it is critical to help avoid obstacles and that the Rover becomes sufficient objects of interest to make their mission. Viper, or volatiles who investigate Polar Exploration Rover, is part of the NASA Artemis program.

Viper mission planners have created a new high-resolution digital lifting map of the moon surface. Using those maps, the Rover can travel more securely and efficiently through the surface of the moon while looking for resources at the South Lunar Pole. A resource of particular interest for scientists is ice. Ice can be converted into other resources to further explore the solar system, including oxygen and rocket fuel.

Ice could also potentially be a source of drinking water for humans who perform extended missions on the surface of the moon. NASA maps are creating are on a scale of three feet and provide a 3D model of large stripes of land at the South Lunar Pole. Maps also show that they quickly change the lighting and temperature conditions caused by long shadows that cross the surface.

The maps will help prevent the rover from crashing, as it crosses a landscape full of craters with steep sides. The mission planners will also use the information about the shadows to make sure that the batteries with solar energy inside the Rover remain charged. The rover also has to be able to find safe places to hibernate during communications blackouts with Earth.

Maps have revealed characteristics of scientific interest on the surface of the Moon, including the features called “mini cold traps” that are perpetual shadows that measure between six and 16 feet through the power to be cold enough so that the ice is recolved. These areas are of particular interest in the search of ice. Researchers point out that they have to plan in advance to prevent the Viper from exceeding the shadows, which move around the south pole of the moon at approximately at the same speed as the Rover. An error could leave the rover in the perpetual darkness that makes it useless.