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NASA has announced it had to cancel a planned lunar rover after spending $459 million due to cost overruns and project delays. It’s a significant setback for the agency’s lunar exploration program, AFP reports.
The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) was intended to explore the south pole of the Moon to search for ice and other resources. The project was intended to pave the way for later planned crewed missions by US astronauts under the Artemis program.
“Decisions like this are never easy,” Nikki Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, was quoted as saying by AFP.
“But in this case, the remaining estimated expenditure for VIPER would have resulted in the cancellation or disruption of many other missions,” he added.
The rover was initially planned to launch in 2023, with the hope of reaching shadowy craters on the Moon that have been depositing ice for a billion years.
However, in 2022, NASA delayed the launch until late 2024 for preflight testing of the Griffin lander vehicle, provided by Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic under the new Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, a public-private venture.
The rover’s launch date was pushed back again to September 2025, increasing the project’s cost to $609.6 million.
Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said Congress has been informed of NASA’s decision, the report said.
Kearns said the rover is “fully prepared” but there are still tests to be done to determine whether it can survive launch, fly in the vacuum of space and withstand extreme temperatures.
Kearns was quoted as saying that there is still a possibility of the rover being reused in a future mission, either partially or fully, depending on whether NASA is able to reach an agreement.
In January, Astrobotic launched the Peregrine lander that did not reach the moon. It is scheduled to launch in late 202, now with a “mass simulator” or heavy weight instead of a NASA rover.
According to Kearns, the United States is not far behind China in terms of space rivalry.
“We congratulate the China National Space Agency on its highly successful Chang’e-6 mission,” he said.
But he added that, by partnering with the space industry under the CLPS program, “we think we will have a much stronger science program and a much stronger lunar landing capability in the United States.”
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Published: July 18, 2024, 08:17 am IST
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