NASA Explores Industry, Partner Interest in Using VIPER Moon Rover

NASA’s VIPER robotic Moon rover is shown in a clean room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA’s VIPER robotic Moon rover is seen here in a clean room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA/Helen Arase Vargas

As part of its commitment to a robust, sustainable lunar exploration program for the benefit of all, NASA issued a Request for Information Friday to seek interest from American companies and institutions in conducting a mission using the agency’s VIPER Moon rover.

VIPER, short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, was designed to map the location and concentration of potential off-planet resources, like ice, on the South Pole of Earth’s Moon. NASA announced July 17 its intent to discontinue VIPER, and to pursue alternative methods to verify the presence of frozen water at the lunar South Pole, but could contribute the VIPER rover as-is to an interested partner.

From July 17 to Aug. 1, NASA accepted expressions of interest from the broader community in using the existing VIPER rover system. The Request for Information now seeks to learn more about how interested parties would use VIPER at minimal to no cost to the government. This Request for Information is open to U.S. organizations and industry. NASA will explore interest from the international community through separate channels.

“NASA thanks everyone who provided expressions of interest in using VIPER and looks forward to learning more about how potential partners envision accomplishing NASA’s science and exploration goals with the rover,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We want to make the best use possible of the engineering, technology, and expertise that have been developed by this project to advance scientific knowledge of the Moon. Partnership opportunities on VIPER would allow us to do this without impacting our future cadence of commercial deliveries to the Moon, to continue lunar science and exploration for everyone’s benefit.”

Future CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) deliveries to the lunar surface and instruments on NASA’s crewed missions will progress the agency’s assessment of volatiles across the South Pole region.

The Request for Information is available online and will remain open for responses until 11:59 p.m. EDT Monday, Sep. 2.

For more information about VIPER, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/viper