NASA looks to sell its VIPER Moon rover
US space agency NASA is to discontinue development of its Lunar VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project and is looking to sell the technology.
The VIPER project had seen cost increases, delays to the launch date, and the risks of future higher costs.
NASA plans to disassemble and reuse VIPER’s instruments and components for future Moon missions but will also consider interest from U.S. industry and international partners for use of the existing VIPER rover system. Expressions of interest are expected by Thursday, Aug. 1.
The solar powered rover had a top speed of 0.45mph and was originally planned to launch in late 2023. In 2022 NASA requested a launch delay to late 2024 to provide more time for preflight testing of the Astrobotic lander. Since that time, additional schedule and supply chain delays pushed VIPER’s readiness date to September 2025, and independently its CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) launch aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin lander also has been delayed to a similar time.
The rover hardware was designed and built by NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, while the instruments are provided by Ames, Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, and commercial partner Honeybee Robotics in Altadena, California.
“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,” said said Nicola Fox, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Astrobotic will continue its Griffin Mission One within its contract with NASA, working toward a launch scheduled for no earlier than the autumn of 2025. The landing without VIPER will provide a flight demonstration of the Griffin lander and its engines.
A future CLPS delivery – the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) —is scheduled to land at the South Pole during the fourth quarter of 2024, will search for water ice. The agency will also use copies of three of VIPER’s four instruments for future Moon landings on separate flights.
Expressions of interest in the VIPER rover can be made at HQ-CLPS-Payload@mail.nasa.gov
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