NASA Holds Competition for Nearly Completed, But Canceled, $450 Million Moon Rover

In mid-July, NASA announced the cancellation of the VIPER mission to the Moon. The project, which has cost the agency $450 million to date, was intended to map the location and concentration of potential extra-planetary resources, such as ice, at the Moon’s south pole.

While the development, which has not encountered any major problems and is currently in the environmental testing phase, was heading in the right direction, NASA decided to end the mission early for budgetary reasons. The agency hopes to save at least $84 million on development costs, plus the cost of the launch.

However, VIPER, short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, could still observe the lunar surface. After the announcement, NASA “accepted expressions of interest from the broader community” and is prepared to provide the VIPER rover “as is” to an interested partner, which would save the planned 100-day mission.

NASA on Friday issued a request for information seeking interest from U.S. companies and institutions in conducting a mission using the agency’s rover, adding that it would explore interest from the international community through separate channels.

NASA said it is doing this “as part of its commitment to a robust and sustainable lunar exploration program for the benefit of all.” It wants to learn more about how interested parties would use VIPER at “minimal or no cost to the government.”

“We want to leverage the engineering, technology and expertise developed by this project to advance scientific knowledge about the Moon. The partnership opportunities on VIPER would allow us to do so without impacting our future cadence of commercial deliveries to the Moon, in order to continue lunar science and exploration for the benefit of all,” NASA said, adding that it also aims to explore alternative methods – to replace VIPER – to test for the presence of frozen water at the lunar south pole.