NASA

Not so parched? The dry-looking lunar landscape as seen by the Apollo astronauts.

By Irene KlotzDiscovery News

NASA is developing a lunar rover to find and analyze water and other materials trapped in deep freezes at the moons poles and to demonstrate how water can be made on site.

Slated to fly in November 2017, the mission, called Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE), will have a week to accomplish its goals.

To stay within a tight $250 million budget cap -- including the rocket ride to the moon -- project managers are planning to use solar energy to power the rovers systems and science instruments. However, sunlight on the places where water and other volatiles may be trapped only occurs for a few days at a time.

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To do a mission of any significance (at the lunar poles) it would take nuclear power, but we dont have that kind of money, said William Larson, a recently retired project manager at NASAs Kennedy Space Center.

Solar-powered missions are more affordable and thats the way were going to try to go, Larson said.

That leaves scientists with along to-do list and a very tight timeline.

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NASA hopes to make water on the moon