Mons Mouton

Mons Mouton is the landing site for NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission. VIPER will explore the mountain during its approximately 100-day mission as part of NASA’s Artemis missions.

The widerelatively flat-topped mountainabout the size of the state of Delawarewas created over billions of years by lunar impactswhich sculpted it out of its surroundings. As a resultMons Mouton stands as tall as Denali – the tallest mountain in North America – approximately 20,000 feet higher than its neighboring features on the Moon’s South Pole. Because it is relatively untouched by bombardmentsscientists believe Mons Mouton is much more ancient – possibly billions of years older than its surroundings. A ring of huge craters - evidence of its pulverizing past - lie around its base; some with cliff-like edgesdescending into areas of permanent darkness. Its rolling hilltop is peppered with smaller rocks and pebbles as well as lots of enticing craters that are frequently blanketed in freezingshifting shadows.

VIPER will be the first resource mapping mission beyond Earth. It will search at and below the lunar surface to determine the location and concentration of any ice could eventually be harvested to sustain human exploration on the MoonMarsand beyond and will help advance scientific exploration of the Moon by helping to understand how water is created and deposited throughout the solar system.

This image is a visualization made using data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.