VIPER Lunar Rover Agile Mission Systems

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.