Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
NASA announced the cancellation of the VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) moon rover program due to escalating costs. This decision was revealed in a teleconference on July 17.
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VIPER was designed to land near the moon's south pole and spend 100 days searching for lunar ice deposits. The rover was scheduled to launch in 2025 aboard an Astrobotic Griffin lander as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
Cancelling the VIPER mission is expected to save NASA an additional $84 million in development costs. The agency had already invested approximately $450 million in the program, excluding launch costs.
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NASA officials emphasized that the cancellation was a budgetary decision, not a reflection on the quality of the work done by the VIPER team. Joel Kearns and Nicola Fox highlighted the constrained budget environment in the United States as the primary reason for the termination.
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At the time of cancellation, the VIPER rover was fully assembled and undergoing environmental testing. NASA is considering reusing VIPER's scientific instruments and components for future lunar missions.
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NASA will first seek interest from both U.S. and international industry partners in utilizing the rover as-is before proceeding with de-integration and reuse of its parts.
Despite the cancellation, NASA remains confident that the scientific objectives of VIPER can be achieved through other lunar exploration initiatives. The upcoming Lunar Terrain Vehicle, capable of remote operation, may explore permanently shadowed regions near the lunar south pole for ice.
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Other lunar landers might deploy instruments similar to those planned for VIPER in the same areas. NASA is exploring possibilities for CLPS landers to reach permanently shadowed regions or provide mobility for instruments to explore these areas.
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NASA's fiscal year 2025 budget reduction of $1 billion for science programs has forced difficult decisions. Other programs, such as the Chandra X-ray telescope and the Mars Sample Return program, are also facing significant budget cuts and operational changes due to financial constraints.
Credit : NASA