news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

IT Home reported on July 18 that NASA issued an announcement on Wednesday, stating that due to soaring costs and multiple delays in the project,Announcement of suspension of VIPER rover project。

The project was originally planned to be launched at the end of 2023, but in the actual implementation process, due to delays caused by supply chain and technology, NASA previously postponed the launch time to September 2025.

VIPER stands for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover. It plans to go to the South Pole of the Moon to explore for water sources on the Moon and make more adequate preparations for the subsequent Artemis moon landing program.

NASA said that if the VIPER project continues to move forward, it may lead to further cost increases and affect or interrupt other missions under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

According to Bloomberg, the agency has spent $450 million (IT Home Note: currently about 3.276 billion yuan) to develop the rover so far. Instead of investing more resources in the probe, the agency chose to dismantle the probe's instruments for other future lunar missions.