NASA is planning to return to the Moon and it will be done as part of Artemis program. However, before astronauts set foot on the Silver Globe again, a number of other missions will take place first. Among them was a project called VIPER (stands for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover). Unfortunately the rover was canceled.
NASA has announced that the VIPER rover mission will not be carried out. The launch of the machine had been delayed before and was initially planned for 2023. Then the date was moved to the fall of this year, and finally settled on September 2025. Various complications related to this project caused financial problems.
NASA explains that the mission was canceled for several reasons. In addition to the aforementioned launch delays, the agency also cites other reasons. These include cost increases and further risks related to the need to allocate larger sums of money to the project.
In the meantime, the agency has postponed the launch of the VIPER rover to test the Griffin lander supplied by Astrobotic. This has caused delays and risked cost increases. So much so that it could have an impact on NASA’s CLPS budget. Therefore, the decision was made to resign and Congress was informed of this.
The mission of the VIPER rover was to examining the surface near the South Pole Moon. They are located there ice depositswhich will be necessary during the longer exploration of the Silver Globe by astronauts. In this way, they will be able to obtain water and this is important in terms of the possible construction of a station on the surface.
The vehicle was about 1.5 meters long and weighed 430 kg. The machine was equipped with four wheels and solar panels. VIPER also carried a set of scientific instruments and a drill. The project was one of several that was supposed to support the Artemis mission, but was buried.
NASA added that it still plans to continue exploring the Moon and the CLPS and Artemis programs will continue. This also applies to the Griffin lander. The agency plans to send it to the Moon with Astrobotic next year and test its capabilities. It will simply be launched without the VIPER rover.
It is worth adding that the rover project has so far absorbed a lot of money. NASA has allocated for work related to this mission about 450 million dollars.
Source: geekweek.interia.pl
