VIPER rover banished to storage as moonshot plan sputters
- Reference: 1746807728
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/05/09/nasa_viper_canceled/
- Source link:
The US space agency [1]stated that it is canceling the Lunar Volatiles Science Partnership solicitation, which was aimed at getting VIPER to the Moon at no cost to government.
The original plan was to deposit the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) on the Moon as part of a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contract. Astrobotic was to deploy the rover from its Griffin lander in 2023. However, delays pushed the date into 2025, and by 2024, NASA decided to [2]pull the plug on the rover. The justification was a budget set to balloon to $609.6 million. The agency estimated that canceling the project would save a minimum of $84 million.
[3]
The rover, however, was nearly complete. It simply had no ride to the Moon.
[4]
NASA VIPER rover
Keen not to waste the effort, NASA [5]issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking interest in landing VIPER on the Moon, at minimal or no cost to the US government. An [6]Announcement for Partnership Proposals (AFPP) [7]followed earlier this year, with responses due by March 3. A second, more detailed proposal was then expected from respondents, and a decision on the VIPER mission was to be made in summer.
The new plan was for NASA to contribute the rover as-is, with potential partners arranging for the integration and successful landing of the rover on the Moon. The chosen partner would then conduct a science and exploration campaign and disseminate VIPER-generated science data.
[8]NASA JPL boss bails for 'personal reasons' as budget cuts bite
[9]ESA feeling weightless and unwanted amid proposed NASA cuts
[10]NASA jettisons Neo4j database for Memgraph citing costs
[11]Trump wants to fire quarter of NASA budget into black hole – and not in a good way
The space agency had said: "NASA's selection approach will favor proposals that enable data from the mission's science instruments to be shared openly with anyone who wishes to use it."
It is difficult to see what a partner would have got out of such a mission, considering the need to fly and land VIPER at their own expense, and then have to make the data collected freely available.
[12]
[13]
Earlier this year, Nicky Fox, associate administrator in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, [14]said : "Moving forward with a VIPER partnership offers NASA a unique opportunity to engage with the private sector.
"Such a partnership provides the opportunity for NASA to collect VIPER science that could tell us more about water on the Moon, while advancing commercial lunar landing capabilities and resource prospecting possibilities."
[15]
The partnership has not materialized as envisaged, and NASA has canceled the solicitation.
Fox said this week: "We appreciate the efforts of those who proposed to the Lunar Volatiles Science Partnership Announcement for Partnership Proposals call. We look forward to accomplishing future volatiles science with VIPER as we continue NASA's Moon to Mars exploration efforts."
Meanwhile, the rover will continue to languish in storage. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2025/05/07/nasa-to-explore-additional-methods-to-send-viper-to-moon/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/18/viper_nasa_cancelled/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aB566fzqMKv2VkZm9X19aAAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://regmedia.co.uk/2022/07/20/nasa_viper_rover.jpg
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/nasas_viper_moon_rover_might/
[6] https://science.nasa.gov/lunar-science/volatiles-partnership/
[7] https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-presses-forward-search-for-viper-moon-rover-partner/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/08/nasa_jpl_director_quits/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/08/nasa_budget_reaction/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/07/nasa_people_memgraph/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/02/nasa_funding_slashed/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aB566fzqMKv2VkZm9X19aAAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aB566fzqMKv2VkZm9X19aAAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-presses-forward-search-for-viper-moon-rover-partner/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aB566fzqMKv2VkZm9X19aAAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Hard Science is not a MAGA thing
How many times has a MAGE diehard said publicly, 'I don't believe in Science'? (that applies to the likes of MTG)
I guess it only applies to things like vaccines, space research, NOAA and a host of other sciences. It does NOT apply to the projects run by the likes of Bezos and Musk. Strange that.... (not)
If Chump and VD Vance carry on, the US brain drain will become a flood and all that research money that they want to take away from places like Harvard will be irrelevant. There will be no one left to carry out the research.
The USA is on the fast track to become a 4th world nation.
Next, there will be a move to replace the USD with the Yuan as the world's trading currency. Bye bye USA. You will most certainly not be No 1 anymore.
Re: Hard Science is not a MAGA thing
"If Chump and VD Vance carry on, the US brain drain will become a flood and all that research money that they want to take away from places like Harvard will be irrelevant. There will be no one left to carry out the research."
And that, of course will be a real shame, the leadership and contributions to science made by US institutions has been profound over the last century or so.
I am reminded of the testimony of RR Wilson, the then Director of Fermilab who was appearing before a congressional committee to request the funding for the, then 'state of the art' accelerator. To paraphrase, he was asked by a Senator what such a device contributes to the defense of the United States, his reply was along the lines that it didn't, except the existence of such an institution made the United States more worthy of being defended!
https://history.fnal.gov/historical/people/wilson_testimony.html
Of course, in the great scheme of things, it doesn't really matter long term, the thirst for knowledge is part and parcel of being human, others will step in, probably the Chinese, or Europe. The human race will stumble slightly in trying to understand reality, but we will move on and get there eventually.
And maybe this is normal, maybe the time of US dominance is over, maybe it has simply run its course, all empires, eventually fall. 150, 160 years ago, Great Britain, wasn't just a superpower, it was a hyper power. It literally controlled a quarter of the surface area of the planet, it dominated the seas completely, it was untouchable, all powerful; now all gone, all in the space of a few decades.
Oh, but I will disagree over the replacement of the USD with the Yuan, it'll be the Euro.
Poor VIPER.
It got viped out.
Re: Poor VIPER.
Why did the viper viper nose? Because the adder adder handkerchief.
/veal
Indeed, what would the supplier get out of it?
Kudos for lunar delivery?
Leg up looking at future business (assuming there is any?)