The VIPER program is now canceled by NASA after as much as five years since it was first announced, and this was because the mission faced massive delays and losses along the way. NASA's goal for the VIPER program was to develop a moon rover that would carry out its bidding, with the rover tasked to look for ice and water on the lunar surface.
For now, the entire mission was already scrapped by NASA, and the rover's development was also discontinued by the space agency to prevent further losses.
NASA's VIPER Mission is Now Canceled After 5 Years
NASA
The latest announcement from NASA confirmed that it has now canceled the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) project after it completed a comprehensive internal review of it. The program was known for being first announced in 2019 as the agency is looking to expand more on its lunar probes, with its original plan centering on a 2023 launch.
However, in 2022, the agency requested to delay the mission as it needed more time to test the Astrobotic lander andwas later rescheduled to late 2024.
It did not end there as it was also rescheduled to September 2025 as NASA needed more time for VIPER's readiness.Presently, NASA has already spent $450 million in VIPER's development according to The New York Times.
The VIPER project was focused on creating a moon rover that would look for ice on the lunar surface, with its search meant to benefit the Artemis mission and other human landings on the satellite. According to NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration, Joel Kearns, this cancelation would lead to the space agency saving around $84 million.
NASA's Search for Water on the Moon
Apart from revisiting the moon after as much as 50 years, NASA's goal for the upcoming missions towards the natural satellite is to look for untapped resources including water. Throughout the past years, one of its main focuses has been to develop rovers and other scientific instruments that would help spot water on the Moon, and among them is the Lunar Trailblazer mission.
It was also previously detailed by NASA that all of these preparations are meant for the Artemis program to take advantage of, especially in sourcing resources from the lunar surface itself. Among the instruments from NASA is the so-called 'Lunar Flashlight' which would shine a light on specific regions of the satellite that have no direct exposure from the Sun, theorizing surface ice buildups.
While these are some of the missions introduced early this decade, they were not the first and certainly not the last, with the VIPER program among them. However, NASA has already thrown in the towel for VIPER's development and progression earlier today, with the program no longer seeing further focus from the company as it has been plagued by delays and rising costs since 2019.
