NASA has quietly scrapped a plea for third parties to take its VIPER rover to the lunar surface.
The US space agency stated that it is canceling the Lunar Volatiles Science Partnership solicitation, which was aimed at getting VIPER to the Moon at no cost to government.
The original plan was to deposit the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) on the Moon as part of a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contract. Astrobotic was to deploy the rover from its Griffin lander in 2023. However, delays pushed the date into 2025, and by 2024, NASA decided to pull the plug on the rover. The justification was a budget set to balloon to $609.6 million. The agency estimated that canceling the project would save a minimum of $84 million.
The rover, however, was nearly complete. It simply had no ride to the Moon.
NASA VIPER rover
Keen not to waste the effort, NASA issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking interest in landing VIPER on the Moon, at minimal or no cost to the US government. An Announcement for Partnership Proposals (AFPP) followed earlier this year, with responses due by March 3. A second, more detailed proposal was then expected from respondents, and a decision on the VIPER mission was to be made in summer.
The new plan was for NASA to contribute the rover as-is, with potential partners arranging for the integration and successful landing of the rover on the Moon. The chosen partner would then conduct a science and exploration campaign and disseminate VIPER-generated science data.
The space agency had said: “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.”
It is difficult to see what a partner would have got out of such a mission, considering the need to fly and land VIPER at their own expense, and then have to make the data collected freely available.
Earlier this year, Nicky Fox, associate administrator in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said: “Moving forward with a VIPER partnership offers NASA a unique opportunity to engage with the private sector.
“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.”
The partnership has not materialized as envisaged, and NASA has canceled the solicitation.
Fox said this week: “We appreciate the efforts of those who proposed to the Lunar Volatiles Science Partnership Announcement for Partnership Proposals call. We look forward to accomplishing future volatiles science with VIPER as we continue NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration efforts.”
Meanwhile, the rover will continue to languish in storage. ®
