NASA Defunds $600M VIPER Moon Rover Mission As Costs And Delays Pile Up

NASA has made the difficult decision to cancel its VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project amidst numerous launch delays and rising costs. The space agency added the increased costs would have also threatened to bring about the end of other Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS).

VIPER, originally scheduled to launch in late 2023, was meant to explore the Moon in search of ice and other potential resources. NASA intended to use the data the rover collected during its 100-day mission to determine how it could harvest the Moon’s resources for future human space exploration, as well as for establishing a long-term human presence on the lunar surface. Now, however, VIPER will most likely be disassembled, and its instruments and components used for other future Moon missions.

“We are committed to studying and exploring the Moon for the benefit of humanity through the CLPS program,” remarked Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The agency has an array of missions planned to look for ice and other resources on the Moon over the next five years. Our path forward will make maximum use of the technology and work that went into VIPER, while preserving critical funds to support our robust lunar portfolio.”


VIPER came with an already exorbitant price tag from its start. During a teleconference with press, Joel Kearns, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration within the Science Mission Directorate, remarked the budget for the project originally began at $433.5 million with a landing in 2023. Later, that number rose to $505.4 million with a landing in 2024. Kearns added that the launch window eventually moved to 2025 and “the cost for the VIPER project was projected to be $609.6 million.”

All is not lost, however, as the space agency will continue to move forward with other missions to accomplish many of VIPER’s goals. One such mission is the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1), scheduled to land at the lunar South Pole during the latter part of 2024. Also, NASA will use copies of three of VIPER’s four instruments for future Moon landings on separate flights.

The spacecraft meant to carry VIPER to the Moon, Astrobotic’s Griffin lander, will continue to work toward a launch scheduled for no earlier than fall 2025, according to NASA. The space agency remarked the landing without VIPER will provide a flight demonstration of the lander and its engines.

Amid the cancellation of Viper, NASA will most certainly take what it learned and use it as it prepares to send humans back to the lunar surface. As Dr. Nicky Fox, NASA Science Associate Administrator, pointed out on X/Twitter, “we must remember that exploring the lunar surface is no easy feat.” It is also not cheap.