By: Isabelle Wang

NASA has decided to cancel its $450 million VIPER mission to the Moon’s south pole . VIPER, also known as Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, is a rover with dimensions similar to those of a golf cart (approximately 1.4 × 1.4 × 2 m). It was designed to explore for lunar resources, particularly focusing on locating ice, mapping its presence across the lunar surface, and assessing its depth and purity.

The rover is fully built, and its launch was scheduled for late next year, in 2025. Although the launch will still happen, VIPER is to remain on Earth. On Wednesday, the cancellation was announced because the project was too expensive and would waste time and money that they could be using on other projects. The rover will be disassembled, and a nonfunctional “mass simulator” will take its place in the launch. The purpose of VIPER had been to see the dim craters in the polar regions before NASA astronauts landed there, but in the current circumstances, it is unlikely.

Nicola Fox is the associate administrator for NASA’s science mission directorate. During a news conference, she said, “Decisions like we’ve been discussing today are extremely difficult to make. We don’t make them lightly. We put a lot of thought into the best way to move forward.” Inflation has led to NASA searching for cheaper alternatives. They have not yet found one for VIPER which is why the mission has been canceled. Another robotic mission that may be delayed is the Europa Clipper. The Europa Clipper’s main purpose is to determine if there are places below the surface of one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa, that could support life. This project may be delayed due to issues with its electronic parts.

NASA’s missions often take longer and are more expensive than planned. The agency is also expecting to receive budget cuts, which is why officials have decided to cancel VIPER.

Joel Kearns, the deputy associate administrator for exploration in the science directorate, claims that NASA spent $450 million to fully assemble VIPER. Dr. Kearns also stated that canceling the project could save at least $84 million. This is because tests on the machine have not been completed even though the rover itself is fully assembled. Dr. Fox also stated that other missions will be able to fulfill VIPER’s purpose, but they will take more time.

The components of VIPER will be disassembled and used in other missions. NASA also said that they would listen to other ideas for how to use the VIPER system, as long as they don’t have to spend any money. While building the machine, NASA also hired Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh to take VIPER to the moon. This means that NASA had to pay Astrobotic about $323 million.