VIPER Lunar Rover Agile Mission Systems

Jay Trimble

NASA NTRS · 20230001613

VIPER Lunar Rover Agile Mission Systems

Abstract

The VIPER Lunar Rover, scheduled for a November, 2024 launch, is a solar powered rover that will search for volatiles at the lunar south pole. VIPER is an operationally complex mission operating in a challenging lighting and communications environment, requiring new design in a number of areas, from mission planning, to real-time waypoint driving. The combination of solar power, limited battery and the dynamic movement of shadows at the south pole gives VIPER small operational margins. The Mission System will be used to operate VIPER during cruise and on the lunar surface. To maximize efficiency and flexibility in Mission System design and thus to improve the performance and reliability of the resulting Mission System, we are tailoring Agile principles that we have used effectively in ground data system software development and applying those principles to the design of elements of the mission system.

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Jay Trimble. VIPER Lunar Rover Agile Mission Systems. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20230001613

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