NASA has canceled an ambitious mission designed to map the ice at the moon's south pole and then break through it, the portal reported nature.com. The space agency announced the cancellation of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER), citing budget issues and several delays in building the rover and its lander that have led to rising costs. It is now looking for partners interested in using the rover - which is already assembled - or components of it, for future lunar missions.
The agency has already invested nearly $450 million in building VIPER and says it will need to spend millions more to complete testing. That would jeopardize funding for other launches that NASA plans as part of its Commercial Services Program (CLPS), in which the agency works with private U.S. aerospace companies to transport scientific instruments to the lunar surface.
VIPER was intended to be the first-ever reconnaissance mission for ice on the surface of the Moon's south pole.
“This was a really difficult decision that we are making in an uncertain budget environment. But we believe this is a way to continue to support the entire CLPS portfolio," said Nicola Fox, administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
The US Congress gave NASA a smaller budget in 2024 than in 2023, and the budget proposed by the US House of Representatives for 2025 is only about a 1% increase from this year, which is more -lower than the current US inflation rate.
Is a VIPER mission doomed?
The US Congress approved $433,5 million to be spent on building VIPER and landing it on the Moon by the end of 2023. The idea was to take samples of ice in the dark, cold craters of the Moon's south pole, in order to mining the captured chemical data to learn more about the origin and formation of the Solar System. Ice could also serve as a rocket fuel ingredient for future lunar astronauts.
But delays in building the rover and the spacecraft that was supposed to deliver it to the moon pushed the launch date to late 2025, with an expected cost increase of $176 million, according to Joel Kearns, the directorate's deputy associate administrator for research for NASA science missions. The spike in spending prompted an internal agency review that ended in June.
NASA officials say they remain confident in Astrobotic Technology, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, aerospace company that is building the lander for this mission. In January, Astrobotic's Peregrine spacecraft, intended to be the first US lunar lander in 50 years, ran out of fuel, lost control and never reached the lunar surface. For this reason, some scientists are skeptical of the agency's statement.
"I think there were big concerns about Astrobotic's ability to deliver VIPER safely to the surface," says Kevin Cannon, a lunar geologist at startup Ethos Space.
Astrobotic plans to launch its Griffin lunar module next year, although VIPER is no longer on board. The company is soliciting proposals for other research equipment it could transport to the moon instead.
"Decisions need to be made quickly, but we are considering all options," said Astrobotic CEO John Thornton.