NASA cancels the search for private partners for the viper rover
NASA’s Rover Viper Rover Viper (Volatiles Explorer Rover), aimed at ice exploration on the moon, will not join the lunar mission through an association with the private sector, as previously contemplated. This decision occurs after a complicated year for the project, which had seen a series of cancellations and revaluations due to budgetary concerns. NASA had opened a request to find partners in the private industry in order to take Viper to the moon without additional costs for the government, but recently announced the cancellation of this search.
NASA recognized the effort of the companies that presented proposals within the framework of the so -called “Volatile Lunar Science Partnership Announcement for Partnership Propositions.” Nicky Fox, associate administrator of the NASA scientific missions management, expressed her gratitude and reiterated the agency’s commitment to continue research on volatile on the Moon through the Artemis program, which seeks to establish a permanent presence in the South Lunar Pole.
Viper was aimed at the search for water ice deposits in the South Pole of the Moon, a region that NASA considers crucial for future manned missions. Originally, it was planned that Viper landed on the lunar surface aboard Lander Griffin, of the Astrobotic company, as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative (CLPS). However, Griffin will now take another rover in place. The cancellation of the search for private associations leaves in the air the future of rover and its transport to the moon, while NASA continues to evaluate new strategies to carry out the mission.
