Media Invited to View Testing of NASA’s Water Hunting Moon Rover

NASA invites the media to view full-scale egress testing of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) prototype and the structural test model of Astrobotic’s Griffin lunar lander at 11 a.m. EDT on Thursday, June 2, at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

The lander egress testing uses the latest hardware prototypes from NASA and Astrobotic to verify VIPER’s ability to exit the lander safely and effectively after touchdown. This testing is a critical step toward the rover’s trip to the Moon’s South Pole to map valuable resources for future Artemis missions.

Media interested in viewing the rover egress testing should contact Jimi Russell at james.j.russell@nasa.gov by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 1. All dates and times are subject to change.

Following egress testing, a VIPER prototype will remain at NASA Glenn for additional mobility and traction tests at the center’s Simulated Lunar Operations Laboratory.

Later this year, construction of the mission rover will begin at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while the flight software and navigation system development will take place at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Astrobotic will receive the complete rover with its scientific instruments in mid-2023 in preparation for launch as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.  

For more information on VIPER, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/viper