Resource Prospector is a cancelled mission concept by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

of a rover that would have performed a survey expedition on a polar region of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

. The rover was to attempt to detect and map the location of volatiles such as

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

and lunar water which could foster more affordable and sustainable human exploration to the Moon,

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

, and other

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

bodies. The mission concept was still in its pre-formulation stage,Resource Prospector
Advanced Exploration Systems, NASA 2017 when it was scrapped in April 2018.NASA scraps a lunar surface mission — just as it's supposed to focus on a Moon return
Loren Grush, ''The Verge'' April 27, 2018New NASA leader faces an early test on his commitment to Moon landings
Eric Berger, ''ARS Technica'' 27 April 2018 The Resource Prospector mission was proposed to be launched in 2022. Its science instruments will be flown on several commercial lander missions contracted with NASA's new Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. The

VIPER Vipers are snakes in the family Viperidae, found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, New Zealand, Ireland, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipe ...

rover was developed as a successor of Resource Prospector, but it was also cancelled due to cost overruns.

Overview

In February 1976, the Soviet lander Luna 24 sent a sample of lunar soil to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, where it was found to contain about 0.1% water. Data obtained by the

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric Polar orbit, polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO have been described as essential for planning NASA's future human and robotic ...

(LRO), Chandrayaan-1, and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), revealed that lunar water is distributed widely (if thinly) across the Moon's surface. The Resource Prospector mission concept proposes a NASA-led collaboration that seeks international space agencies and private industry partners to maximize the value. However, it is unclear if the use of lunar resources is permitted under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty signed by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and 90 other countries.

Hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

and

can be used to make vital consumables, but also, to make rocket fuel, and basic materials required for in-space manufacturing. The technical process is called in situ resource utilization or ISRU. The rover would have used a drill to extract samples of the lunar soil from as deep as one meter below the surface. The Taiwanese National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology was responsible for developing the rover's sensor system. In September 2015, the rover prototype underwent field testing, and in May 2016, the prototype rover underwent thermal vacuum and thermal testing at NASA's Johnson Space Center in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

.Resource Prospector Progresses with Thermal Vacuum Testing
Erin Mahoney, ''NASA TV'' 6 August 2017 Before its cancellation, NASA officials were exploring various launch options, including to fly it as a secondary payload on board the second flight of the

Space Launch System The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American Super heavy-lift launch vehicle, super heavy-lift Expendable launch system, expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. As the primary launch vehicle of the Artemis program, Artemis Moon landing progra ...

, called the Artemis 2 in 2022. Another reported launch option was the

Falcon Heavy Falcon Heavy is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle with partial reusability that can carry cargo into Earth orbit and beyond. It is designed, manufactured and launched by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket consists of a center core ...

rocket.

Cancellation

The Resource Prospector team was notified on 23 April 2018 to cease all work on the project by the end of May 2018. The concept was going to be submitted for a major design review by the end of 2018 for funding, development and launch. This rover was the only mission in conceptual development by NASA to explore the surface of the Moon ''in situ''. Apparently, the cancellation stemmed from the program being moved to another Division with an insufficient budget to fund this mission. US$100 million were already spent on the rover's instruments over ten years.NASA spent US$100 million on much-anticipated lunar rover before scrapping it in April
Alex Stuckey, ''Chron'' 5 June 2018 Scientists involved in the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group sent a letter on 26 April 2018 to the NASA administrator, James Bridenstine laying their case to reverse the decision,LEAG Letter To NASA Administrator Bridenstine Regarding Resource Prospector Mission
Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) 26 April 2017 and remarked that other nations are preparing landers to stake claim on the natural resources on the south polar region of the Moon. In a 3 May 2018 statement, NASA officials explained that lunar surface exploration will continue in the future, but using commercial lander services under a new Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.NASA argues Resource Prospector no longer fit into agency's lunar exploration plans
Jeff Foust, ''SpaceNews'' 4 May 2018NASA emphasizes commercial lunar lander plans with Resource Prospector cancellation
Jeff Foust, ''SpaceNews'' 28 April 2018 Some of these commercial landers will be equipped with the ice drill and scientific instruments developed for the Resource Prospector. NASA officials stated that under this program, Resource Prospector instruments will go forward in an expanded lunar surface campaign, instead of the original two weeks.New NASA boss Jim Bridenstine faces his first challenge: a balancing act between the moon and Mars
Jeff Foust, ''SpaceNews'' 1 June 2018

Mission

Water Detected at High Latitudes on the Moon

Preliminary studies call for a rover of about , that would measure 1.4 m x 1.4 m x 2 m. It was suggested to be launched with a

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...

rocket. The mission life would have been between 6 and 14 Earth days.

Goal

The motivation and purpose of the mission was to characterize the nature and distribution of lunar water and other volatiles in lunar polar sub-surface materials, and to demonstrate in situ resource utilization (ISRU) processing of lunar soil by heating samples in an oven and isolating the resulting volatiles.Resource Prospector: Evaluating the ISRU Potential of the Lunar Poles
Anthony Colaprete NASA Ames Research Center 2 November 2016

Conceptual payload

The conceptual payload includes:NASA's Resource Prospector Rover to Search for Lunar Volatiles
Doug Messier, ''Parabolic Arc News'' 1 May 2017Resource Prospector: Evaluating the ISRU potential of the lunar poles
Elphic, Richard; Colaprete, Anthony; Andrews, Daniel; 42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly Held 14–22 July 2018, in Pasadena, California, U.S. Abstract id. B3.1-14-18 July 2018. * Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS) * Near InfraRed Volatiles Spectrometer System (NIRVSS) * One meter long core drill * Oven The drill, NSS and NIRVSS spectrometers was be launched in 2022 on board the VIPER rover, but even this mission was cancelled.

References