“NASA stated cost increases, delays to the launch date, and the risks of future cost growth as the reasons to stand down on the mission,” the agency explained in a statement.
Commitment to Lunar Exploration
Despite the cancellation, NASA remains committed to lunar exploration. Nicola Fox, Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, emphasized, “We are committed to studying and exploring the Moon for the benefit of humanity through the CLPS program.”
Fox further added, “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.”
Repurposing VIPER’s Components
NASA plans to disassemble VIPER and repurpose its instruments and components for future Moon missions. “NASA is planning to disassemble and reuse VIPER’s instruments and components for future Moon missions,” the agency noted. Before disassembly, NASA will consider expressions of interest from U.S. industry and international partners by August 1, 2024, for using the existing VIPER rover system at no cost to the government.
Future Lunar Missions
Initially scheduled for a late 2023 launch, the VIPER mission faced multiple setbacks, including supply chain issues and scheduling conflicts. In 2022, NASA delayed the launch to late 2024 to allow more time for preflight testing of the Astrobotic lander. However, ongoing delays pushed VIPER’s readiness date to September 2025. Concurrently, the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) launch aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin lander was also delayed to a similar timeframe.NASA concluded that continuing the VIPER project would incur additional costs, jeopardizing other CLPS missions. The agency has notified Congress of its intent to cancel the mission.
Astrobotic will continue its Griffin Mission One under its contract with NASA, targeting a launch no earlier than fall 2025. This mission, without VIPER, will serve as a flight demonstration for the Griffin lander and its engines.
To achieve many of VIPER’s objectives, NASA will pursue alternative methods. For instance, the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1), scheduled to land at the lunar South Pole in late 2024, will search for water ice and conduct a resource utilization demonstration. Additionally, future instruments, such as the Lunar Terrain Vehicle, will facilitate mobile observations of volatiles and enable astronauts to access the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions for sample return campaigns.
NASA also plans to use copies of three of VIPER’s four instruments in future Moon landings. The VIPER rover was originally designed to explore the Moon for ice and other valuable resources, advancing NASA’s mission to investigate our lunar neighbor and uncover key mysteries within our solar system.
Continued Lunar Initiatives
Through NASA’s lunar initiatives, including Artemis human missions and CLPS, NASA is exploring more of the Moon than ever before using highly trained astronauts, advanced robotics, U.S. commercial providers, and international partners. The agency’s future lunar missions will benefit from the technology and work developed for VIPER while preserving critical funds to support a robust lunar exploration portfolio.