Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin will deliver VIPER to the lunar surface in 2027.
NASA’s water-hunting lunar rover was given a second chance to reach the surface of the Moon. Blue Origin will deliver VIPER to the Moon on an upcoming lunar lander mission, resurrecting the exploration mission after it was called off last year.
NASA contracted Blue Origin to transport its lunar rover to the Moon as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, was originally set to launch in 2023 but faced several delays until the mission was called off altogether as it threatened to disrupt other payload deliveries to the Moon. Under the new deal, VIPER will hitch a ride to the Moon on board Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) lander, scheduled to launch in 2027.Water hunter
VIPER is designed to search for water ice in the lunar south pole, an integral aspect of establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon’s surface as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
“Our rover will explore the extreme environment of the lunar South Pole, traveling to small, permanently shadowed regions to help inform future landing sites for our astronauts and better understand the Moon’s environment—important insights for sustaining humans over longer missions, as America leads our future in space,” Sean Duffy, acting NASA administrator, said in a statement.
