NASA cancels VIPER rover mission meant to search the moon for water ice

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Following an internal review, NASA announced Wednesday plans to discontinue the development of its VIPER project.

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The $450 million VIPER (volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) was designed to search Earth’s Moon for ice and other potential resources.

NASA cited cost increases and launch delays as reasons for standing down on the mission.

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According to NASA, the rover was originally scheduled to launch in late 2023. However, in 2022, NASA requested a launch delay to late 2024 to provide more time for preflight testing of the Astrobotic lander.

Since then, NASA officials say additional schedule and supply chain delays have pushed VIPER’s readiness date to September 2025.

Independently, its CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) launch aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin lander has also been delayed to a similar time.

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