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 ...

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 ...

NASA’s original plan for VIPER was to spend $433.5 million building the rover, with a target launch date in 2023. But to accommodate delays with the rover’s ride to the moon—a lander called ...

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.

Canceling VIPER now will save NASA a minimum of $84 million. That could grow, he said, if VIPER’s launch were to slip beyond November 2025, ...

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 agency canceled last summer.

Ahead of those crewed missions, NASA had planned to send its robotic VIPER on a 100-day mission to explore the moon's south pole to locate, record and map images of water ice.

NASA has expressed interest in handing off the VIPER mission to a commercial partner, which would surely be preferable to all of the work that has gone into the rover so far going to waste.

The space community has leapt into action since NASA canceled plans to launch its VIPER lunar rover. Here’s how — and why — a private company might save the vehicle.

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