NASA has canceled its VIPER project that would’ve sent a rover to the Moon to search for ice. Scheduling delays and increasing costs contributed to its cancellation.
NASA isn’t moving forward with its VIPER program — short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover — which aimed to put a rover on the far side of the Moon to search for water. On Wednesday, NASA cited cost increases and several delays as its reasons for canceling the project. VIPER was originally expected to launch at the end of 2023. However, NASA pushed the date to September 2025 due to supply chain and scheduling delays.
NASA says continued development of VIPER would “result in an increased cost that threatens cancellation or disruption” to other missions under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. The agency has spent $450 million to develop the rover so far, according to Bloomberg. Instead of dedicating more resources to the craft, it has chosen to disassemble and reuse the rover’s instruments for future missions to the Moon.
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