NASA Revives Lunar Robot Project VIPER

NASA has announced the revival of the VIPER project, a lunar robot initially scheduled to land on the moon in 2023. After several delays and the project’s cancellation due to excessive costs, the robot is back on track thanks to a new collaboration with Blue Origin.

Exploring the Moon’s South Pole

The VIPER mission is a crucial part of the Artemis program, which aims to establish a permanent and sustainable human presence on the moon by 2030. The program focuses on exploring the moon’s south pole, believed to contain significant amounts of water ice.

Water ice is an important resource as it can support human life by providing water and can also be split into hydrogen and oxygen to produce rocket fuel.

Challenges Faced by the VIPER Project

VIPER was supposed to be sent to the moon aboard a spacecraft called Griffin, developed by Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic. However, both Griffin and VIPER faced multiple delays, leading NASA to announce the project’s cancellation in July 2024 to save costs.

The project had cost NASA around $450 million up to that point, and by abandoning it, the agency managed to save $84 million. Nevertheless, NASA did not give up on lunar exploration and continued to seek private sector partners to help achieve its goals.

Collaboration with Blue Origin

NASA announced a new deal with Blue Origin, valued at up to $190 million, to take on the task of delivering VIPER to the moon. Blue Origin will use its new Blue Moon Mark 1 spacecraft for this purpose, with the launch scheduled for later this year.

NASA will handle the scientific operations of the mission, while Blue Origin will be responsible for the mission’s structure and landing VIPER on the lunar surface. However, this partnership does not include the mission’s launch, which will be conducted under a separate agreement.

Conclusion

Through the VIPER project, NASA aims to make significant progress in lunar exploration, particularly in the south pole region, which is key to the future of human missions to space. By collaborating with Blue Origin, NASA hopes to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness while enhancing American leadership in space exploration.