NASA cancels the VIPER lunar mission, states the future of the rover and lander

Written By KYNNMASTER 123

Left: Representation of the VIPER Rover on the Moon (NASA) Right: VIPER Rover in the NASA-JSC Cleanroom (NASA)


Following a comprehensive internal review, NASA announced on Wednesday its decision to discontinue the development of its VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) Project. The rover was originally planned to launch in late 2023, but was delayed to late 2024 for more preflight testing, and further pushed to September 2025 due to additional schedule and supply chain delays. Additionally, its ride to space, the Astrobiotic Griffin Lunar Lander was also delayed at a similar time. NASA states that continuing the mission should cost more not just in delays but also in the future cost of the mission itself, which may cause a threat to other Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions.


Even with this decision, NASA remains dedicated to future lunar exploration through the CLPS missions that they have currently planned for the future years to come. According to NASA, VIPER's instruments and components are planned to be disassembled and reused for future Moon missions. NASA also has plans to invite companies and partners that may have expressions of interest to existing VIPER rover system parts which is currently scheduled on Thursday, July 18, which should lead to the project having an orderly closeout during the spring of 2025.


As for Astrobotic, they will still proceed with its Griffin Mission One within its contract with NASA, targeting a launch scheduled for no earlier than fall 2025. The lunar landing will demonstrate Griffin's capabilities, albeit without VIPER. The mission with VIPER might be canceled, but NASA will still use alternative methods to achieve VIPER's objectives, such as the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) set to land in late 2024 to test its capabilities in searching water ice and test resource utilization. Additionally, the agency will also use copies of three of VIPER's four instruments on future Moon landings on separate flights in support of their future crewed missions and vehicles, such as the Lunar Terrain Vehicle.



The VIPER rover was intended to explore Earth's Moon for ice and other valuable resources, aligning with NASA's dedication to lunar research, which helps us to solve some of the greatest mysteries of our solar system. NASA's lunar programs, such as the Artemis manned missions and the CLPS initiative, are facilitating our unprecedented exploration of the Moon. This is achieved through the combined efforts of skilled astronauts, cutting-edge robotics, U.S. commercial providers, and international partners.


-end-


This is KYNNMASTER 123 for The Weekly Spaceman, see you in the next one! 😊

KYNNMASTER 123
Previous

Polaris Dawn crew completes final series of EVA spacesuit testing, SpaceX suit includes new specifications
Next

Artificial Satellites - Why are they so important? How do they affect us?