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NASA’s VIPER Gets Its Head and Neck
Credit: NASA/Helen Arase Vargas

In this image from Feb. 12, 2024, engineers lift a mast into place on NASA's VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) robotic moon rover. VIPER's mast and the suite of instruments affixed to it look a lot like the rover's "neck" and "head." The mast instruments are designed to help the team of rover drivers and real-time scientists send commands and receive data while the rover navigates around hazardous crater slopes, boulders, and places that risk communications blackouts.

The team will use these instruments, along with four science payloads, to scout the lunar south pole. During its approximately 100-day mission, VIPER seeks to better understand the origin of water and other resources on the moon, as well as the where NASA plans to send astronauts as part of the Artemis campaign.

Provided by NASA

Citation: NASA's VIPER moon rover gets its head and neck (2024, April 16) retrieved 16 April 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2024-04-nasa-viper-moon-rover-neck.html
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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 16, 2024
From the early days of space exploration, objects in orbit have followed the predictable trajectories described by Johannes Kepler's laws. These paths, while historically reliable, no longer meet the strategic demands of today's complex and contested Space Area of Operations (AOR). The need for agility and unpredictability in satellite movements has become paramount as space becomes a more conte
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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 15, 2024
Flight Works has entered into a $5.7 million contract with the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) to develop a green, refuelable propulsion unit known as the Propulsion Unit with Modular Applications (PUMA). This initiative marks the beginning of a series of systems aimed at enhancing the capabilities of the United States Space Force (USSF), NASA, and various commercial entities engaged in complex sp
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London, UK (SPX) Apr 16, 2024
Rolls-Royce today secured Phase 2 funding from the UK Space Agency's International Bilateral Fund (IBF), which promotes strategic research partnerships between the UK space sector and emerging space nations. The company received a GBP 1.18 million award from the fund, supporting collaboration to enhance the technologies for a fission nuclear system, benefiting both UK and U.S. space nuclea
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Washington (AFP) April 15, 2024
An object that crashed from the sky into an American man's home was a hunk of debris ejected from the International Space Station, NASA confirmed Monday. The strange tale came to light last month when Alejandro Otero of Naples, Florida posted on X that a metallic item "tore through the roof and went (through) 2 floors" of his house, almost striking his son, on March 8. It occurred at a t
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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 15, 2024
Satellogic Inc. (NASDAQ: SATL) has announced a significant capital injection of $30 million through a Note Purchase Agreement with Tether Investments Limited, marking a pivotal step in its expansion efforts. The agreement allows Nettar Group, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Satellogic, to issue Secured Convertible Notes to the investor with the potential for issuing additional notes up to a t
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Paris, France (SPX) Apr 12, 2024
Scheduled for a May launch, the EarthCARE satellite is equipped with four advanced instruments aimed at studying Earth's clouds and their impact on climate. This joint effort by Airbus, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) seeks to deepen our understanding of climate dynamics and temperature regulation via cloud behavior. Maximilian Sauer, Eart
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Sydney, Australia (SPX) Apr 11, 2024
The Tibetan Plateau, noted for its unique thermodynamic environment, hosts frequent deep convection activities. Recent studies by Dr. Ying Na of Wuxi University and Dr. Chaofan Li of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, have shifted focus from commonly observed mesoscale convective systems to isolated deep convection (IDC) phenomena in the region. Their research, co
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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 15, 2024
NASA's newest Earth-observing satellite, the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE), has begun distributing science-quality data essential for studying ocean health, air quality, and climate change effects. Launched on February 8, PACE underwent extensive in-orbit testing to ensure its instruments function correctly. The public can now access this data through the dedicated portal.
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