NASA’S next moon rover is nearly complete as the US ramps up efforts for a third lunar landing attempt this year.
The US and China are squaring up in a fight for the moon’s mysterious south pole, which both countries believe is the most viable location for a permanent lunar base.
Following one fiery failure and a botched landing, the US’ third lunar robot in 2024 is close to rolling out to the launch pad.
Nasa’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover – known as VIPER – is set to embark on its journey towards the moon later this year.
“All of VIPER’s flight instruments are installed, and the rover is more than 80% built!” VIPER Project Manager Dan Andrews wrote in a NASA blog post earlier this week.
“This is a major accomplishment and shows the great progress being made by the dedicated VIPER team, who are excited to see the rover coming together.”
READ MORE ON THE MOON
VIPER will land near the lunar south pole with the mission to search for water-based ice and other resources to help support future astronauts on the Artemis III mission.
Artemis III is currently targeted to launch in 2026.
Peregrine & Odysseus: One fiery failure and a botched landing
Nasa’s Peregrine lunar lander was intended to be the US’ first moon landing in 50 years, until it was succeeded by a tipsy Odysseus.
US v China
The ongoing sabre wacking between the US and China has sparked a Renaissance for the space race of the 60s.
For a long time, Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson has considered China its most capable opponent in getting boots on the Moon by the end of the decade.
Most read in Science
But a task perhaps trickier than ferrying people to the Moon, is building long-lasting infrastructure where humans can survive off-planet.
And for that, China – unsurprisingly – has big plans.
A research paper from scientists at the China National Space Administration earlier this week revealed the country plans to build a Disneyland-sized lunar base.
Inside the base, presumably under Beijing’s orders, an ‘all-seeing’ Skynet CCTV system of over 600million cameras will be installed to spy on Chinese citizens on Earth.
The planned lunar base has a radius of 3.7miles and comprises a command centre, a power station, a communication hub, scientific facilities, and a fleet of robots.
It will even have its own remote sensing, navigation, and communication satellites.
China hopes to begin building the lunar base within the next few years and have a stripped down version of the outpost established by 2028.
In January, Nelson said he believed the “race” to the lunar south pole was over for China.
The Nasa boss announced that the agency is now targeting September 2026 for its Artemis III mission, the first human assignment on the Moon since Apollo 17.
“I do not have a concern that China is going to land before us,” Nelson told press at the time,” he told reporters at the time.
“I think that China has a very aggressive plan. I think they would like to land before us, because that might give them some PR coup.
“But the fact is that I don’t think they will.
“I think it is true that their date that they announced keeps getting earlier.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“But specifically, with us landing in September of ’26, that will be the first landing.”
Nelson fears China may breach the 1967 Outer Space Treaty should Beijing beat Washington to the post.
Find out more about science
Want to know more about the weird and wonderful world of science? From the Moon to the human body, we have you covered…
https://www.thesun.co.uk/feed/
Millie Turner
