A Visit With VIPER: NASA Astronauts Tour Robotic Rover’s Clean Room

by Linda Grimm | 2024-02-13

Members of NASA’s astronaut corps recently got a close-up look at VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover), the agency’s first robotic Moon rover, in the Johnson Space Center’s Surface Segment Integration and Testing Facility (SI&T) clean room. Coordinating with SI&T engineer Tayera Ellis, Christina Koch, mission specialist for the upcoming Artemis II mission, organized the visit for about 10 of her fellow astronauts. Johnson’s David Petri, SI&T lead, and Ellis joined VIPER Project Manager Dan Andrews from NASA’s Ames Research Center to lead the group on a tour of the facility where the rover has been under construction.

A group of men and window stand in front of a window to an engineering test lab. — From left: Johnson Space Center’s Surface Segment Integration and Testing Facility (SI&T) Lead David Petri, NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, NASA astronaut Raja Chari, NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway, SI&T engineer Tayera Ellis, NASA astronaut Stan Love, NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, and NASA astronaut Christina Koch. **Credit: NASA/David DeHoyos**

Excitement for the VIPER mission has been growing among the astronaut corps – and the broader Johnson community – as the build progresses. According to the VIPER team, about 70 percent of rover hardware and payloads have been integrated, and about half of the assembly testing has been completed. The team expects to complete the rover’s assembly within the next few months, after which they will conduct fully integrated performance and environmental testing.

NASA and its partners plan to land VIPER at the South Pole of the Moon on a 100-day mission. It will explore the nearby environment in search of ice and other potential resources, providing critical information about the origin and distribution of water on the Moon and helping the agency determine how it could be collected and used for future human space exploration. The resource maps created from VIPER’s data will mark an important step forward for Artemis missions to establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface.

View more photos from the astronauts’ visit below.

A robotic rover is pictured inside a clean room facility.

Astronauts view a clean room where a robotic rover is being built

Astronauts visit a clean room where a robotic rover is being built

Astronauts tour a clean room where a robotic rover is being assembled.