Latest news with #LunarVolatilesSciencePartnershipAnnouncementforPartnershipProposals
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What will happen to VIPER? NASA shifts into reverse on canceled moon rover
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. It seems NASA's ice-hunting VIPER rover won't be hitching a ride to the moon as a part of a private sector partnership, as the space agency had previously sought. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Explorer Rover (VIPER) has had a rocky, uncertain year. NASA announced its cancellation last summer over budget concerns, then opened a solicitation request for private sector partnerships in an attempt to get VIPER to the moon at no additional cost to the government. On Wednesday (May 7), NASA announced the cancellation of that search, and thanked the companies that submitted proposals. 'We appreciate the efforts of those who proposed to the Lunar Volatiles Science Partnership Announcement for Partnership Proposals call,' NASA's Science Mission Directorate Associate Administrator Nicky Fox said in the statement. "We look forward to accomplishing future volatiles science with VIPER as we continue NASA's Moon to Mars exploration efforts.' VIPER is designed to hunt for water ice deposits near the moon's south pole — an area of interest to NASA, as it plans to establish a permanent presence there as a part of the Artemis program. VIPER was designed to help assess potentially life-supporting resources ahead of those future crewed installations. Originally, VIPER was slated to land on the lunar surface aboard Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic's Griffin lander, as a part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Griffin is expected to launch to the moon later this year, but will now be carrying Astrolab's FLIP moon rover instead. Last July, NASA said that the VIPER cancellation would save the space agency about $84 million in development costs, in addition to its initial $250 million estimation and more than $250 million in projected over costs. Now, with NASA no longer seeking partnerships for VIPER in the private sector, it is unclear how the rover will get to the moon. Related stories: — NASA unveils landing site on the moon for ice-hunting VIPER rover — VIPER back from the dead? NASA asks US companies to partner on ice-hunting moon rover — NASA picks 9 companies to develop Mars 'commercial services' ideas The Trump administration's recently released "skinny budget" proposes to reduce NASA's funding by 24%. More than half of that cut would come from the Science Mission Directorate, painting an unclear future not only for VIPER but a slew of other missions as well. In the meantime, VIPER is fully assembled and ready to launch, save its need for a lander to ferry it to the lunar surface and a rocket to launch it into space. "The agency will announce a new strategy for VIPER in the future," NASA said in Wednesday's statement.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA to seek new ways to send rover to moon's south pole
May 7 (UPI) -- NASA is exploring alternative ways to deliver its VIPER rover to the moon after canceling partnership proposals to land a water-seeking robot on the lunar surface. VIPER, which stands for Volatiles Investigating Polar Explorer Rover, is supposed to study the extreme environment of the moon's south in search of ice and other potential resources. On Wednesday, NASA announced it canceled new partnership proposals to send VIPER to the lunar surface at no government costs. NASA plans to announce a new strategy. On July 17, NASA scrapped its lunar rover project created in partnership with Lockheed Martin and General Motors. A review by NASA showed past cost increases, launch delays and likely future costs growth made the project unsustainable. The rover was originally planned to launch in late 2023 but was delayed to provide more time for the Astrobotic lander. NASA has announced it would disassemble and reuse VIPER's instruments and components for future moon missions. NASA issued a Request for Information on Aug. 9 to seek interest from American companies and institutions in conducting a mission using the agency's VIPER moon rover. They were due March 5 and an announcement was to be made this summer. But on Wednesday, those plans were halted. "We appreciate the efforts of those who proposed to the Lunar Volatiles Science Partnership Announcement for Partnership Proposals call," Nicky Fox, associate administrator for Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., said. "We look forward to accomplishing future volatiles science with VIPER as we continue NASA's Moon to Mars exploration efforts." VIPER is designed to roam the moon with three instruments and a 3.28-foot drill to detect and analyze various lunar soil environments at a range of depths and temperatures. This includes permanently shadowed craters, which scientists say are some of the coldest spots in the solar system of minus-334 Fahrenheit. Resource maps of the moon would support NASA's crewed Artemis missions, including harvesting resources to establish long-term presence on the lunar surface. Griffin had been targeted to land VIPIR on the moon. Astrobotic has a replacement rover to fly on a SpaceX Starship mission with two astronauts on the moon lander. FLIP, which stands for Flex Lunar Innovation Platform, is a robotic four-wheeled vehicle that weighs about 1,000 pounds and and can carry up to 66 pounds of payload. The agency is targeting a 10-day crewed mission around moon in April 2026 with four astronauts. It would be the first time since Apollo 17 landed men on the lunar surface in 1972. The first human moon landing in Artemis III is scheduled for mid-2027. Although NASA has partnered with Space-X for missions, including to the International Space Center, the Space Launch System rocket is being built by Boeing and Northrop Grumman and Orion spacecraft by Lockheed Martin. SpaceX is involved in the development of two vehicles on the moon: the Lunar Surface Access Program and the Lunar Gateway, which is a space station in lunar orbit. In 2022, Artemis I entered lunar orbit with a mannequin.
