NASA cancels VIPER rover mission meant to search the moon for water ice

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Following an internal review, NASA announced Wednesday plans to discontinue the development of its VIPER project.

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The $450 million VIPER (volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) was designed to search Earth’s Moon for ice and other potential resources.

NASA cited cost increases and launch delays as reasons for standing down on the mission.

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According to NASA, the rover was originally scheduled to launch in late 2023. However, in 2022, NASA requested a launch delay to late 2024 to provide more time for preflight testing of the Astrobotic lander.

Since then, NASA officials say additional schedule and supply chain delays have pushed VIPER’s readiness date to September 2025.

Independently, its CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) launch aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin lander has also been delayed to a similar time.

According to NASA, continuation of the VIPER project would result in “an increased cost that threatens cancellation or disruption to other CLPS missions.”

NASA has notified Congress of its plans to scrap the mission.

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Associate Administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, Nicola Fox, says they’re still committed to studying and exploring the moon through the CLPS program.

“The agency has an array of missions planned to look for ice and other resources on the Moon over the next five years,” Fox said. “Our path forward will make maximum use of the technology and work that went into VIPER, while preserving critical funds to support our robust lunar portfolio.”

NASA says they plan to disassemble and reuse VIPER”s instruments and components for future Moon missions. Before that, they’ll consider other offers for use of the VIPER rover system as it exists now at no cost to the government.

Astrobotic will continue its Griffin Mission One as part of its existing contract with NASA, working toward a launch scheduled for the fall of 2025 at the earliest.

NASA says the landing without VIPER will instead provide a flight demonstration of the Griffin lander and its engines. They’re also investigating alternate methods of accomplishing VIPER’s goals and verifying the presence of ice at the Moon’s south pole.

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The Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) is scheduled to land at the Moon’s South Pole during the fourth quarter of 2024 on a search for water ice and to carry out a resource utilization demonstration using a drill and mass spectrometer.

For more information about the VIPER mission, click here.

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