NASA Halts VIPER Project to Refocus Lunar Exploration Efforts

NASA Halts VIPER Project to Refocus Lunar Exploration Efforts
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 18, 2024

NASA has decided to discontinue the VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project after a thorough internal review. The decision was made due to escalating costs, launch delays, and potential future financial risks.

Initially slated for a late 2023 launch, the VIPER project was postponed to late 2024 to allow for additional preflight testing of the Astrobotic lander. However, subsequent scheduling and supply chain issues have pushed VIPER's readiness to September 2025. The delay in the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) launch aboard Astrobotic's Griffin lander further compounded these issues. Continuing with VIPER would have increased costs, potentially disrupting other CLPS missions. NASA has informed Congress of its decision.

"We are committed to studying and exploring the Moon for the benefit of humanity through the CLPS program," said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The agency has an array of missions planned to look for ice and other resources on the Moon over the next five years. 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 plans to repurpose VIPER's instruments and components for future lunar missions. Expressions of interest from U.S. industry and international partners for the use of the existing VIPER rover system will be considered until Thursday, Aug. 1. Interested parties can contact [email protected] starting at 10 a.m. EDT on Thursday, July 18. The project will be closed out in an orderly manner through spring 2025.

Astrobotic will continue its Griffin Mission One under its NASA contract, with a planned launch no earlier than fall 2025. This mission, even without VIPER, will demonstrate the capabilities of the Griffin lander and its engines.

NASA will explore alternative approaches to achieve VIPER's objectives, including verifying the presence of ice at the lunar South Pole. One such effort is the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1), scheduled for a late 2024 landing. PRIME-1 aims to search for water ice and conduct a resource utilization demonstration using a drill and mass spectrometer to analyze subsurface materials.

Future crewed missions, such as those involving the Lunar Terrain Vehicle, will enable mobile observations of volatiles in the south polar region and allow astronauts to access permanently shadowed areas for sample collection. NASA also plans to use copies of three of VIPER's four instruments in future lunar missions.

The VIPER rover was intended to search for ice and other resources on the Moon, supporting NASA's goal of understanding our solar system's mysteries. Through its lunar initiatives, including the Artemis missions and CLPS, NASA continues to explore the Moon using advanced robotics, skilled astronauts, U.S. commercial providers, and international partnerships.