Moon becomes little more out of reach for NASA's VIPER rover
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NASA’s VIPER robotic moon rover undergoes work in a clean room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. (Photo Credit: Helen Arase Vargas/NASA)
May 7 (UPI) -- NASA is exploring alternative ways to deliver its VIPER rover to the moon after canceling partnership proposals to land a water-seeking robot on the lunar surface.
VIPER, which stands for Volatiles Investigating Polar Explorer Rover, is supposed to study the extreme environment of the moon's south in search of ice and other potential resources.
On Wednesday, NASA announced it canceled new partnership proposals to send VIPER to the lunar surface at no government costs. NASA plans to announce a new strategy.
On July 17, NASA scrapped its lunar rover project created in partnership with Lockheed Martin and General Motors.
A review by NASA showed past cost increases, launch delays and likely future costs growth made the project unsustainable. The rover was originally planned to launch in late 2023 but was delayed to provide more time for the Astrobotic lander.
NASA has announced it would disassemble and reuse VIPER's instruments and components for future moon missions.
An illustration depicts NASA's VIPIR rover preparing to roll off the Griffin lander on the moon. NASA is now studying alternative methods to send VIPIR to the lunar surface. (Photo Credit: NASA)
NASA issued a Request for Information on Aug. 9 to seek interest from American companies and institutions in conducting a mission using the agency's VIPER moon rover. They were due March 5 and an announcement was to be made this summer.
But on Wednesday, those plans were halted.
"We appreciate the efforts of those who proposed to the Lunar Volatiles Science Partnership Announcement for Partnership Proposals call," Nicky Fox, associate administrator for Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., said. "We look forward to accomplishing future volatiles science with VIPER as we continue NASA's Moon to Mars exploration efforts."
VIPER is designed to roam the moon with three instruments and a 3.28-foot drill to detect and analyze various lunar soil environments at a range of depths and temperatures. This includes permanently shadowed craters, which scientists say are some of the coldest spots in the solar system of minus-334 Fahrenheit.
A NASA image of Nobile Crater on the moon's South Pole, where NASA plans to launch first U.S. robotic lunar rover. (Photo Credit: NASA)
Resource maps of the moon would support NASA's crewed Artemis missions, including harvesting resources to establish long-term presence on the lunar surface.
Griffin had been targeted to land VIPIR on the moon.
Astrobotic has a replacement rover to fly on a SpaceX Starship mission with two astronauts on the moon lander. FLIP, which stands for Flex Lunar Innovation Platform, is a robotic four-wheeled vehicle that weighs about 1,000 pounds and and can carry up to 66 pounds of payload.
The agency is targeting a 10-day crewed mission around moon in April 2026 with four astronauts. It would be the first time since Apollo 17 landed men on the lunar surface in 1972.
The first human moon landing in Artemis III is scheduled for mid-2027.
Although NASA has partnered with Space-X for missions, including to the International Space Center, the Space Launch System rocket is being built by Boeing and Northrop Grumman and Orion spacecraft by Lockheed Martin. SpaceX is involved in the development of two vehicles on the moon: the Lunar Surface Access Program and the Lunar Gateway, which is a space station in lunar orbit.
In 2022, Artemis I entered lunar orbit with a mannequin.
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