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.

The boxy, four-wheeled rover is equipped with four instruments and headlights, which will be necessary to explore the permanently shadowed craters on the Moon. Over the course of its 100-day mission, VIPER is designed to map the location and abundance of water at the lunar south pole.

VIPER was originally meant to launch with Astrobotic’s Griffin lander under a Commercial Lunar Payload Services task order worth $322 million. The launch date was first pushed back to 2024 and later to 2025 due to additional schedule and supply chain delays. In July 2024, NASA decided to cancel the mission altogether, stating that it threatens to disrupt other commercial payload missions to the Moon.

NASA initially decided to take apart the robot and reuse its parts for future missions. The agency’s decision, however, sparked outrage from the science community over the potential loss of VIPER. In response, NASA put out a call for the private sector to take over its robot and send it to the Moon. At that point, NASA had already spent $450 million developing VIPER, and the agency declared that it wouldn’t spend any more money in getting the rover to land on the Moon.

“NASA is committed to studying and exploring the Moon, including learning more about water on the lunar surface, to help determine how we can harness local resources for future human exploration,” Nicky Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement. “We’ve been looking for creative, cost-effective approaches to accomplish these exploration goals. This private sector-developed landing capability enables this delivery and focuses our investments accordingly—supporting American leadership in space and ensuring our long-term exploration is robust and affordable.”

In selecting Blue Origin to transport VIPER to the Moon, NASA has kept the mission alive for what it had previously described as the most capable robot ever sent to the lunar surface.