NASA cancels VIPER rover to search for water on moon

NASA isn’t moving forward with its VIPER program — short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover — which aims to put a rover on the far side of the moon to search for water. On Wednesday, NASA cited cost overruns And many delays are grounds for canceling the project.

VIPER was originally expected to be launched by the end of 2023. However, due to supply chain and scheduling delays, NASA pushed the date back to September 2025.

NASA says continued development of VIPER will increase costs and “threaten cancellation or disruption” of other missions under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The company has spent $450 million developing the rover so far. According to Bloomberg. Instead of devoting more resources to the craft, it has opted to disassemble and reuse the rover’s instruments for future missions to the moon.

“The agency plans to search for ice and other resources on the moon over the next five years,” Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement. “Our path forward will maximize the technology and work that went into VIPER, while securing critical funds to support our robust lunar portfolio.”