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NASA’s VIPER rover (or Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) went down in history before its first mission. Development of the vehicle, designed to explore the polar regions of the Moon, was interrupted by rising prices and project delays. NASA says.
The rover was originally scheduled to launch in late 2023, but a year ago the launch was delayed to late 2024. Additional problems have since arisen, so due to the new price increase, NASA notified the US Congress that it intends to abandon the rover.
– We are committed to the exploration and discovery of the Moon for the benefit of all humanity through our CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payloads) program. The agency has a series of missions aimed at finding ice and other resources on the Moon over the next five years. On our way, we will maximize the use of technologies developed for the VIPER program, but we will preserve critical funding to support our vast lunar portfolio,” Nicola Fox, assistant administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, reportedly said in a statement.
NASA plans to disassemble VIPER and use its instruments and components for other missions.
The Griffin mission itself, which was supposed to include the rover, is still going ahead, with a launch planned for the fall of 2025.
In addition, NASA has planned to carry out a mission under the CLPS program at the end of this year – it will land PRIME-1 on the moon to search for ice under the surface.
(Telegraph Nauka/NASA)
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