Blue Moon Pathfinder Mission 2 & VIPER

Second of two National Team test missions to validate the necessary technologies for its HLS lunar module, some of the life support hardware will travel on this mission in preparation for the first manned flight.

NASA's Artemis lunar rover, the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, is designed to explore the relatively nearby but extreme environment of the Moon in search of ice and other potential resources. This mobile robot will land at the South Pole of the Moon on a 100-day mission, in order to teach us about the origin and distribution of water on the Moon and help determine how we can harvest the Moon's resources for future human space exploration. Data from the rover can show where the Moon's ice is most likely to be found and easiest to access, making VIPER the first-ever resource mapping mission on another celestial body. The first resource maps of the Moon will support NASA's Artemis missions to establish a long-term presence on the surface of the Moon. VIPER is designed to roam the Moon using its three instruments and a 1 meter long drill to detect and analyze various lunar soil environments at a range of depths and temperatures. The rover can venture into permanently shadowed craters, some of the coldest spots in the solar system, where ice reserves have endured for billions of years. Determining the distribution, physical state, and composition of these ice deposits can help us understand the sources of the lunar polar water, giving us insight into the distribution and origin of water and other volatiles across the solar system. The rover was originally slated to launch on Astrobotic’s Griffin Mission One lunar lander (with the Falcon Heavy rocket), but the VIPER mission was cancelled in July 2024 due to budget cuts. After consulting with the industry to find alternative ways to deliver the rover to the lunar surface, NASA ultimately chose to launch it with Blue Origin’s 2nd Blue Moon MK1 lander mission.