New York, July 18: On July 17, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the cancellation of a lunar probe development program despite spending 450 million USD, citing cost overruns and multiple delays.
The decision is a major setback for NASA 's lunar exploration program . According to AFP, the VIPER project was intended to explore the moon's south pole in search of ice and other resources, paving the way for the Artemis mission to send humans to the moon.
Nicky Fox, an official at NASA's science mission division, acknowledged that decisions like these are never easy. "But in this case, the additional money spent on VIPER would have resulted in the cancellation or disruption of other missions," she said.
The mobile robot that NASA hopes will enter hidden craters on the moon where ice deposits have existed for billions of years was originally scheduled to launch in 2023.
But in 2022, NASA decided to delay the launch until late 2024 to allow more time for pre-flight testing of the Griffin lander, which is being provided by Astrobotic under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, a public-private partnership.
The launch was then pushed back to September 2025, while the cost was expected to rise to $609.6 million.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper