28.11.2024
NASA outlines impacts of VIPER on CLPS lunar lander program
Artist's portrayal of the VIPER lunar rover. Credit: NASA Credit: NASA
WASHINGTON — NASA estimated it would have to cancel up to four commercial lunar lander missions and delay up to four more to fly a rover mission the agency announced in July it planned to cancel.
NASA announced in July its intent to cancel the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission, citing cost and schedule overruns and concerns of additional costs and delays in its launch, which was scheduled for September 2025. The agency said at the time that if it continued VIPER, the additional costs would have affected other missions in the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
“The projected remaining expenses for VIPER would have resulted in either having to cancel or disrupt many other missions in our Commercial Lunar Payload Services line,” Nicky Fox, NASA associate administrator for science, said in a media briefing to announce the cancellation. However, the agency didn’t specify how many missions would be affected if VIPER continued, either in that announcement or subsequent public events.
NASA, though, did quantify the impacts on the CLPS program in a response to a letter from the leadership of the House Science Committee in September about the VIPER cancellation. The members write in the Sept. 6 letter that the cancellation “raises serious questions” and asked NASA to respond to 17 specific questions about VIPER.
In its Oct. 11 response to the committee, obtained by SpaceNews through a Freedom of Information Act request, NASA outlined three scenarios for when and how VIPER would launch that the agency said would result in canceling between one and four CLPS missions.
In one scenario, NASA assumed VIPER would launch on Astrobotic’s Griffin lander as previously planned in September 2025. The agency estimated it would need to spend $104 million to prepare VIPER itself, $20 million of which had already been allocated for activities in fiscal year 2024, along with $20 million in “additional risk mitigation activities” for Griffin. “NASA estimated that these additional funding requirements would lead to cancellation of one CLPS delivery and delay of another delivery by a year,” it stated.
A second scenario anticipated a one-year slip in VIPER’s launch to September 2026. NASA projected an additional $50 million in costs for VIPER and $40 million for Griffin. That would have resulted in two canceled CLPS task orders and a one-year delay to two others.
NASA also revealed it considered “alternative delivery means” for VIPER other than Griffin. NASA did not disclose details about those alternatives, calling them “highly proprietary” but which would have delayed the launch of VIPER beyond 2026 “and would still include significant uncertainty about the reliability of delivery success.” NASA projected total costs of $350 million to $550 million with this scenario, resulting in the cancellation of four CLPS task orders and delaying three to four more by two years.
NASA elected to cancel VIPER than pursue any of those alternatives, in part because the agency appeared skeptical that VIPER could be ready for launch by September 2025. “Based on delayed progress from design through rover assembly, programmatic analysis projects significant cost, schedule, and technical risk to finishing development,” the agency stated in its response to Congress.
The rover, though, has completed environmental tests, which were ongoing at the time of the cancellation decision, without any serious issues. “I’ve been a part of a number of flight thermal-vac test campaigns, and this one was just absolutely incredible in how well it went,” said Anthony Colaprete, VIPER project scientist, at an Oct. 29 meeting of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG). “Everything looks great so far.”
NASA is instead pursuing plans to offer VIPER to commercial or industry partners. In its response to Congress, NASA said it received 52 responses to a call for “expressions of interest” made when it announced the cancellation decision. The responses, NASA stated, “ranged from domestic companies and international agencies to backyard/garage enthusiasts,” with the agency concluding that 23 of the respondents had “enough spaceflight experience and technical abilities to conduct the VIPER mission.”
NASA subsequently issued a more formal request for information, receiving 11 responses. A NASA spokesperson said Oct. 30 that the agency was evaluating those responses and would “propose next steps by early 2025.”
The agency told Congress it also heard from 11 international partners interested in VIPER. “NASA reached out to each to gauge interest in partnering with NASA on completion of the VIPER mission. Four space agencies responded, and NASA expects to enter into one-on-one discussions with the agencies to determine feasibility,” it stated. Those space agencies were the Australian Space Agency, German Aerospace Center, Israel Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
NASA also stated it would consider flying VIPER’s instruments on the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) that it is working with industry to develop for use on future Artemis missions as well as the larger pressurized rover that JAXA is providing. The LTV, though, won’t be ready until at least late this decade, while the JAXA rover is projected to launch no earlier than fiscal year 2032.
NASA’s decision to cancel VIPER has been sharply criticized by both scientists and advocates of space commercialization, arguing that the rover offered the best near-term chance to identify and characterize water ice deposits thought to exist in permanently shadowed regions of craters at the lunar poles. Such deposits, if present and accessible, could benefit planetary science research and also support commercial activities at the moon.
VIPER “was our only opportunity to start learning whether the foundation of all of our excitement about the south polar region of the moon has merit or not,” said Brent Sherwood, space domain lead at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, during a Nov. 12 panel discussion at the Beyond Earth Symposium on cislunar infrastructure.
“Let’s go find out what it is that we think makes the moon worthwhile at all,” he said. “Let’s get the data. Until we have the data, everything else is just talk.”
NASA Presses Forward Search for VIPER Moon Rover Partner
NASA’s VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) sits outside a testing chamber after completing its thermal vacuum testing in the fall of 2024. Credit: NASA/JSC David DeHoyos
To advance plans of securing a public/private partnership and land and operate NASA’s VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) mission on the Moon in collaboration with industry the agency announced Monday it is seeking U.S. proposals. As part of the agency’s Artemis campaign, instruments on VIPER will demonstrate U.S. industry’s ability to search for ice on the lunar surface and collect science data.
The Announcement for Partnership Proposal contains proposal instructions and evaluation criteria for a new Lunar Volatiles Science Partnership. Responses are due Monday, March 3. After evaluating submissions, any selections by the agency will require respondents to submit a second, more detailed, proposal. NASA is expected to make a decision on the VIPER mission this summer.
“Moving forward with a VIPER partnership offers NASA a unique opportunity to engage with the private sector,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Such a partnership provides the opportunity for NASA to collect VIPER science that could tell us more about water on the Moon, while advancing commercial lunar landing capabilities and resource prospecting possibilities.”
This new announcement comes after NASA issued a Request for Information on Aug. 9, 2024, to seek interest from American companies and institutions in conducting a mission using the agency’s VIPER Moon rover after the program was canceled in July 2024.
Any partnership would work under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement. This type of partnership allows both NASA and an industry partner to contribute services, technology, and hardware to the collaboration.
As part of an agreement, NASA would contribute the existing VIPER rover as-is. Potential partners would need to arrange for the integration and successful landing of the rover on the Moon, conduct a science/exploration campaign, and disseminate VIPER-generated science data. The partner may not disassemble the rover and use its instruments or parts separately from the VIPER mission. NASA’s selection approach will favor proposals that enable data from the mission’s science instruments to be shared openly with anyone who wishes to use it.
“Being selected for the VIPER partnership would benefit any company interested in advancing their lunar landing and surface operations capabilities,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in the Science Mission Directorate. “This solicitation seeks proposals that clearly describe what is needed to successfully land and operate the rover, and invites industry to propose their own complementary science goals and approaches. NASA is looking forward to partnering with U.S. industry to meet the challenges of performing volatiles science in the lunar environment.”
The Moon is a cornerstone for solar system science and exoplanet studies. In addition to helping inform where ice exists on the Moon for potential future astronauts, understanding our nearest neighbor helps us understand how it has evolved and what processes shaped its surface.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 21.09.2025
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VIPER MIGHT HAVE A NEW RIDE TO THE MOON ON BLUE ORIGIN
NASA’s much-anticipated but imperiled VIPER lunar rover got some good news today. More than a year after NASA announced it was terminating the mission even though the rover is completely built, it may have a second lease on life. NASA awarded a contract to Blue Origin to take initial steps that, if successful, could lead to VIPER flying on Blue Origin’s Blue Moon MK1 lander instead of Astrobotic’s Griffin.
Although NASA’s press release heralds “NASA Selects Blue Origin to Deliver VIPER Rover to the Moon’s South Pole,” the agency actually stopped short of committing to that. Instead it awarded Blue Origin a $190 million task order, CS-7, through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative to take the first of two steps.
Blue Origin is “to design the payload-specific accommodations and to demonstrate how Blue Origin’s flight design will off-load the rover to the lunar surface.” Delivering VIPER is an option and NASA won’t decide whether to exercise that option until step one is completed. Nonetheless, they are targeting the landing for the end of 2027.
This artist’s concept shows Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander and NASA’s VIPER rover on the lunar surface. Credit: Blue Origin
Blue Origin is building the first Blue Moon MK1 lander through a previous CLPS contract. That launch is planned later this year and will deliver two NASA payloads, a lunar retroreflector and a SCALPSS camera.
The company is already an important part of VIPER. Blue Origin owns Honeybee Robotics, which built the TRIDENT drill, one of four scientific instruments on VIPER. Blue Origin CEO David Limp said on X today they are looking forward to preparing VIPER for flight.
While less than a full commitment, today’s announcement is good news for the lunar science community, which was taken aback in July 2024 when NASA announced its intent to cancel VIPER. The agency had been lauding VIPER for years because of the important contributions it would make to the Artemis program.
VIPER, the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, is designed to roam around the lunar South Pole for 100 days searching for water ice with scientific instruments including Blue Origin’s 1-meter (3.3-foot) TRIDENT drill. Previous NASA probes have detected evidence that water, possibly deposited by comets over the eons, exists in permanently shadowed regions at the Moon’s poles. VIPER would be a step in creating the first lunar water resource map.
NASA cited cost growth over several years and concerns it would grow further if Astrobotic’s Griffin lander wasn’t ready by September 2025 as reasons for the decision.
When then-NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine revealed VIPER at the 2019 International Astronautical Congress, the estimated cost was $250 million. By the time NASA was ready to make a cost commitment to Congress, it was $433.5 million with landing in 2023. That landing date slipped to 2024 with a cost of $505.4 million. By July 2024, it was $609.6 million if launched in September 2025, more than 30 percent above the commitment. That triggered an automatic cancellation review according to Joel Kearns, head of NASA’s Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office (ESSIO). He noted that VIPER was hit hard by supply chain issues due to the COVID pandemic that persisted and led to delivery delays in critical components.
All of that is the cost for building the VIPER rover. To get the rover onto the surface of the Moon, NASA chose Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic to deliver it through Bridenstine’s CLPS initiative where companies design, build and launch lunar landers and NASA buys services from them to put NASA payloads on the lunar surface. The companies are expected to find non-NASA customers to close their business cases. In 2019, NASA had awarded Astrobotic a task order to use their smaller Peregrine lander for what was planned as a 2021 mission. A year later NASA awarded them a $199.5 million task order to use the larger Griffin to deliver VIPER in 2023.
The launch dates slipped. Peregrine launched in January 2024 and suffered a propulsion system failure almost immediately.
By July 2024 when NASA decided to terminate the program, NASA had spent $450 million on developing VIPER and made changes to Astrobotic’s task order that included additional propulsion system testing for Griffin, raising that cost to $323 million.
NASA was concerned Griffin wouldn’t be ready by September 2025, however. While acknowledging they’d only save only $84 million by canceling the program, they were worried the cost would grow even more at a time NASA’s science budget was under stress. Conversely, canceling the program would mean wasting all the money spent to date and saving comparatively little, especially since NASA said it would pay Astrobotic the $323 million even though they won’t use Griffin.
The lunar science community and Congress reacted negatively. The rover was already built and going through pre-launch tests at that point. NASA agreed to pay to complete those tests — vibration, acoustic and thermal — and VIPER passed them all.
NASA did want to find a way to get VIPER to the Moon and issued a call for expressions of interest by organizations that might want to take over the project as long as there was no further cost to the agency. It received 11 responses. In May 2025, Nicky Fox, the head of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, saidthey had been evaluating the industry responses “and now we are continuing to explore alternative approaches.”
Today’s announcement apparently is that alternative approach. Fox said today:
“We’ve been looking for creative, cost-effective approaches to accomplish these exploration goals. This private sector-developed landing capability enables this delivery and focuses our investments accordingly – supporting American leadership in space and ensuring our long-term exploration is robust and affordable.” – Nicky Fox
Blue Origin separately is under contract to build one of the two Human Landing Systems (HLS) for Artemis — Blue Moon MK2. SpaceX’s Starship will be used for the first Artemis lunar landing, Artemis III. Trump Administration plans for the Artemis program after Artemis III are unclear, but the plan has been for Starship to be used for Artemis IV and Blue Moon MK2 for Artemis V.
Astrobotic said in an emailed statement today they had decided not to submit a bid, but are “heartened” to hear VIPER will make it to the Moon.
“Astrobotic believes in the deep scientific significance of NASA’s VIPER mission. We are heartened to hear it will have the opportunity to fly and potentially yield critical insights for the broader lunar community. Given the compressed timeline of the CS-7 mission and our commitments to existing customers, Astrobotic made the strategic decision not to submit a bid. Our focus remains on the successful delivery of our customer payloads aboard Griffin-1, and our third lander mission thereafter.”
When the CLPS program was rolled out in 2018, NASA officials acknowledged it had higher risk than many NASA programs, calling it a matter of taking “shots on goal” and they would be satisfied with a 50-50 success rate. Four CLPS missions have been launched so far. Only one, Firefly’s Blue Ghost, was a complete success. The other three (Astrobotic’s Peregrine and two from Intuitive Machines) were less so. NASA counts them all as successes because “we always learn lessons that we can provide and use in the future” according to Fox.
Quelle: Space and Technology Policy Group