NASA's VIPER mission: March 15 is the last day to send your name to the moon
FILE - An artist’s concept of the completed design of NASA’s VIPER, or Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover. VIPER will get a close-up view of the location and concentration of ice and other resources at the Moon’s South Pole, bringing us (NASA/Daniel Rutter)
Today, March 15, is the last day to submit names that will be sent to the moon aboard NASA’s Artemis lunar rover, VIPER.
The names will be attached to VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) as it explores the moon’s surface for 100 days, according to NASA.
The lander is expected to land on the moon’s South Pole in late 2024.
As of this report, 698,568 people have submitted their names to go join VIPER on its journey to the moon.
Click here to sign up for your boarding pass today.
NASA will give people until 11:59 p.m. ET to submit their names.
VIPER is NASA’s first robotic moon rover and will be exploring the permanently shadowed areas of the moon’s surface. Scientists hope to unravel the mysteries of the moon’s water with VIPER by measuring the location and concentration of water ice and other resources.
"VIPER represents the first resource mapping mission on another celestial body and will deepen our understanding of how frozen water and other volatiles are distributed on the Moon, their cosmic origin, and what has kept them preserved in the lunar soil for billions of years," NASA said.
This story was reported from Los Angeles.