Latest news with #VIPIR
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Storm Center Update; Tracking more storms in KELOLAND
Good morning KELOLAND. Here are some of the weather stories we are following this morning. Storms tracked across eastern KELOLAND yesterday, producing damaging winds, hail, and locally heavy rain. You can see the damaging wind on the view video sent to us at uSHARE@ yesterday 5 miles west of Little Rock, Iowa. Here's a look a snapshot of that downburst and what the wind numbers revealed on VIPIR. We also had plenty of lightning near Sioux Falls last night. Most of the storms have been non severe the past 12 hours. Take a look at the 24-hour rainfall totals below. The rain continues to develop this morning. More thunderstorms are expected in the region, mainly focused north of Sioux Falls. Our rain outlook today shows more potential north of the warm front across northeastern SD. Take a look at the latest trends on Futurecast on the video below. You can see the rain moving into northeastern SD along and north of a warm front lifting to the north across our region. We also expect showers and thunderstorms to develop in central SD today near the main low pressure track. Some severe can't be ruled out in southcentral SD this afternoon. This system will exit the region into Minnesota tomorrow morning, with mainly dry conditions during the day tomorrow. A separate feature will bring a rain chance back to eastern KELOLAND late Friday night into Saturday morning. We don't expect rain all weekend, but watch for additional rounds of showers and storms Saturday night, with another round looking likely Sunday night into Monday. Here are the details of the forecast. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Storms tear through KELOLAND Monday
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Damaging winds, hail, and heavy rain all made an impact across parts of southeastern KELOLAND yesterday. Meteorologist Brian Karstens shows us the reports. June is typically a busy month of severe weather in KELOLAND. And it only took 2 days into the new month to find ourselves dealing with the first taste of what will likely be more storms ahead. Minnesota Ave sees extra 10,000 cars a day Just after 3 pm, storms started to fire south of Sioux Falls. This is what it looked like from my vantage point just north of Canton. With 90-degree heat and a strong cold front approaching from the west, the clash of the air masses resulted in a number of severe thunderstorms. One of the storms near Hospers, Iowa, produced very strong winds, enough to create a trail of debris from a hog barn facility on Highway 60. Other storms produced a swath of hail, damaging winds, and over 2 inches of rain between Vermillion and Elk Point. A 3D scan of the storm using our VIPIR system shows large hail in the purple and black colors suspended in the cloud before falling to the ground between 5 pm and 6 pm. The strong heating of the day helped support those strong updrafts needed to produce the hail. While we may be done with the storms for now, it's June and it won't be long before more severe weather arrives. Fortunately for us, that won't be happening for most of us the rest of this week Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA to seek new ways to send rover to moon's south pole
May 7 (UPI) -- NASA is exploring alternative ways to deliver its VIPER rover to the moon after canceling partnership proposals to land a water-seeking robot on the lunar surface. VIPER, which stands for Volatiles Investigating Polar Explorer Rover, is supposed to study the extreme environment of the moon's south in search of ice and other potential resources. On Wednesday, NASA announced it canceled new partnership proposals to send VIPER to the lunar surface at no government costs. NASA plans to announce a new strategy. On July 17, NASA scrapped its lunar rover project created in partnership with Lockheed Martin and General Motors. A review by NASA showed past cost increases, launch delays and likely future costs growth made the project unsustainable. The rover was originally planned to launch in late 2023 but was delayed to provide more time for the Astrobotic lander. A NASA image of Nobile Crater on the moon's South Pole, where NASA plans to launch first U.S. robotic lunar rover. Photo courtesy of NASA NASA has announced it would disassemble and reuse VIPER's instruments and components for future moon missions. NASA issued a Request for Information on Aug. 9 to seek interest from American companies and institutions in conducting a mission using the agency's VIPER moon rover. They were due March 5 and an announcement was to be made this summer. An illustration depicts NASA's VIPIR rover preparing to roll off the Griffin lander on the moon. NASA is now studying alternative methods to send VIPIR to the lunar surface. Image courtesy NASA But on Wednesday, those plans were halted. "We appreciate the efforts of those who proposed to the Lunar Volatiles Science Partnership Announcement for Partnership Proposals call," Nicky Fox, associate administrator for Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., said. "We look forward to accomplishing future volatiles science with VIPER as we continue NASA's Moon to Mars exploration efforts." VIPER is designed to roam the moon with three instruments and a 3.28-foot drill to detect and analyze various lunar soil environments at a range of depths and temperatures. This includes permanently shadowed craters, which scientists say are some of the coldest spots in the solar system of minus-334 Fahrenheit. Resource maps of the moon would support NASA's crewed Artemis missions, including harvesting resources to establish long-term presence on the lunar surface. Griffin had been targeted to land VIPIR on the moon. Astrobotic has a replacement rover to fly on a SpaceX Starship mission with two astronauts on the moon lander. FLIP, which stands for Flex Lunar Innovation Platform, is a robotic four-wheeled vehicle that weighs about 1,000 pounds and and can carry up to 66 pounds of payload. The agency is targeting a 10-day crewed mission around moon in April 2026 with four astronauts. It would be the first time since Apollo 17 landed men on the lunar surface in 1972. The first human moon landing in Artemis III is scheduled for mid-2027. Although NASA has partnered with Space-X for missions, including to the International Space Center, the Space Launch System rocket is being built by Boeing and Northrop Grumman and Orion spacecraft by Lockheed Martin. SpaceX is involved in the development of two vehicles on the moon: the Lunar Surface Access Program and the Lunar Gateway, which is a space station in lunar orbit. In 2022, Artemis I entered lunar orbit with a mannequin.
