NASA will spend about $800 million to not send a robotic rover to the moon. The rover, known as the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, is already built.

Watch a prototype of NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, (VIPER) roll down a ramp to simulate its ...

NASA's VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) is a lunar rover which, among other objectives, will search the moon's South Pole for water.

VIPER, in which NASA has already invested $450 million, could be stripped and sold for parts. Or a commercial company could snap up the rover and commit some money to save the groundbreaking vehicle.

In January NASA raised hopes that VIPER might somehow still see space when it put out a call for proposals for private aerospace companies to launch and operate the rover. On May 7, however, NASA ...

Back in November 2019, NASA announced plans to send a new rover to the moon. After nearly 5 years and multiple delays, however, it seems Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) won ...

NASA is asking U.S. companies for proposals to move forward with the ice-hunting VIPER moon rover, a $450 million project the ...

VIPER's mission was initially contracted in 2020 with a maximum value of $199.5 million, which was meant as a fixed-cost fee covering every aspect of launch and landing, NASA said at the time.

NASA elected to cancel VIPER than pursue any of those alternatives, in part because the agency appeared skeptical that VIPER could be ready for launch by September 2025.

The NASA VIPER rover will explore the south pole of the moon as early as 2024. But first, it has to pass the ramp test.

NASA hopes that the data collected by VIPER will help to shape future missions. “Knowing where resources like water-ice are located … as well as the conditions at those locations, will carry ...

Space agencies around the world are developing moon rovers with advanced capabilities, with NASA’s VIPER among the vanguard of new robotic explorers.