2017 NASA TO MAKE WATER ON THE MOON

NASA is currently in the process of developing a rover that will find and analyze materials -- including water -- that has been trapped in the moon's poles. The entire mission is reportedly under a fixed $250 million budget, and NASA scientists will use solar energy to power the rover.

"To do a mission of any significance (at the lunar poles) it would take nuclear power, but we don't have that kind of money," said William Larson, a recently retired project manager at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. "Solar-powered missions are more affordable and that's the way we're going to try to go."

Upon landing on the Moon, the rover will have approximately 2.5 days of sunlight to search for hydrogen. After that period has passed, the rover will have to succumb to a 48 hour period of hibernation. Upon "awakening" from hibernation, the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) rover will drill about 3.3 feet deep into the lunar surface to extract a sample for mineral deposits.

"The primary mission is lunar ice prospecting, but since we're there and since we don't know if we'll find water, we wanted to also demonstrate that we can extract oxygen from the lunar soil," Larson told Discovery News. "That is the most challenging timeline of any surface mobility mission NASA has ever attempted before -- and we're trying to do it on the cheap."

A simulated mission has already took place this past summer with the Canadian Space Agency, a confirmed partner with NASA on the RESOLVE mission,slated for 2017.