VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)
NASA ice-prospecting rover built for a 100-day mission at the lunar south pole. NASA announced on 17 July 2024 that it would discontinue the project over cost growth and launch delays, then on 19 September 2025 awarded Blue Origin CLPS task order CS-7 (potential value $190 million) with an option to deliver VIPER on a second Blue Moon MK1 lander targeting late 2027; NASA will decide on that option after Blue Origin's first MK1 flight, which had not flown as of the last check.
Objective. Search for and map volatile resources such as water ice at the lunar south pole during a 100-day surface mission.
This is one payload. It does not inherit the carrier mission's outcome.
Facts
- Kind
- Payload
- Mission type
- Prospecting
- Target
- MoonMons Mouton, lunar south pole regionOn the Moon map: Mons Mouton
- Launch
- Not recorded
- Landing
- Planned 2027 H2 (target)Announcement date not recorded. Record checked 2026-10-31.
- Phase
- In developmentNASA release 25-064 (2025-09-19): the award base covers accommodation design and an offload demonstration, with delivery subject to a separate option. The late-2027 target is for landing; no primary launch date is established. Whether the delivery option has subsequently been exercised was not established in this review. NASA’s 20 October 2026 progress update also describes a 2027 lunar mission and a fully built rover undergoing final testing at Johnson Space Center. That update does not state that the delivery option has been exercised or establish a revised first-MK1 flight date; the conditional landing target remains as recorded.
- Outcome
- Not applicable
- Why it is included
- Stated resource objective
How this delivery date changed
Recorded change: the plan before → the plan after, oldest first.
- 2022-07-18: 2023 (late) → 2024-11Schedule slip [8]
- 2024-07-17: Phase: In development → CancelledSource update [1]
- 2025-09-19: 2024-11 → 2027 (late)Schedule slip [2]
Only changes recorded here are listed. The oldest date shown may not be the first plan ever announced, and a date with no recorded change may still have moved. A plan is not a launch.
What comes next
Next recorded dates are plans, not results.
Landing: Planned 2027 H2 (target)Announcement date not recorded. Record checked 2026-10-31.
Participants
Operators, payload owners, carriers and customers are recorded separately.
| Organization | Role |
|---|---|
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Operator |
| Blue Origin | Carrier |
Resources and evidence
| Resource | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Water ice | Targeted |
| Volatiles | Targeted |
Dated events
- 2025-09-19
NASA CLPS task order to Blue Origin for VIPER delivery
NASA awarded Blue Origin a CLPS task order, with an option, to deliver the VIPER water-ice prospecting rover to the lunar South Pole in late 2027 on a second Blue Moon MK1 lander. NASA gives a total potential value of $190 million.
Sources (2) and evidence gaps
The CLPS task order has a total potential value of $190 million.
NASA has awarded Blue Origin of Kent, Washington, a CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) task order with an option to deliver a rover to the Moon's South Pole region.
- Amount is total potential value including an option; exercise of the delivery option not confirmed
- 2024-07-17
NASA announces intent to discontinue VIPER
NASA announced it would stop VIPER development, citing cost increases, launch delays and the risk of further cost growth, and invited expressions of interest in using the assembled rover at no cost to the government.
Sources (1)
NASA stated cost increases, delays to the launch date, and the risks of future cost growth as the reasons to stand down on the mission.
- 2020-06-11
NASA CLPS task order for Astrobotic to deliver VIPER ($199.5 million)
NASA awarded Astrobotic $199.5 million to deliver the VIPER water-ice prospecting rover to the lunar south pole on its Griffin lander; NASA cancelled VIPER in July 2024 and Griffin Mission One continued without it.
Sources (2) and evidence gaps
NASA has awarded Astrobotic of Pittsburgh $199.5 million to deliver NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the Moon's South Pole in late 2023.
Astrobotic will continue its Griffin Mission One within its contract with NASA, working toward a launch scheduled for no earlier than fall 2025. The landing without VIPER will provide a flight demonstration of the Griffin lander and its engines.
- Whether the task-order value was modified after VIPER's removal is not stated.
Open evidence gaps
- Whether NASA has exercised the delivery option under task order CS-7 after its September 2025 announcement has not been established from the primary pages reviewed.
Record history
changes to this record's facts, newest first
| Changed | Field | Was | Now | Reason | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-09-19 | phase | Cancelled | In development | Source update | [2] |
| 2025-09-19 | participants (carrier) | org-astrobotic (Griffin lander, CLPS) | org-blue-origin (Blue Moon MK1, task order CS-7) | Source update | [2] |
| 2025-09-19 | landing date | 2024-11Delivery, not a landing date (per NASA, 18 July 2022, NASA, 19 September 2025) | 2027 (late)Delivery, not a landing date (per NASA, 18 July 2022, NASA, 19 September 2025) | Schedule slip | [2] |
| 2024-07-17 | readiness date | not recorded | 2025-09 | Schedule slip | [6] |
| 2024-07-17 | phase | In development | Cancelled | Source update | [1] |
| 2022-07-18 | landing date | 2023 (late)Delivery, not a landing date (per NASA, 11 June 2020, NASA, 18 July 2022) | 2024-11Delivery, not a landing date (per NASA, 11 June 2020, NASA, 18 July 2022) | Schedule slip | [8] |
Sources
11 excerpts from 8 publicationsOne web address counts as one publication.
NASA stated cost increases, delays to the launch date, and the risks of future cost growth as the reasons to stand down on the mission.
Blue Origin will deliver VIPER to the lunar surface in late 2027, using a second Blue Moon MK1 lander, which is in production.
NASA will make the decision to exercise that option after the execution and review of the base task and of Blue Origin's first flight of the Blue Moon MK1 lander.
- [4]VIPER
On September 19, 2025, NASA announced that VIPER and its instruments will be delivered to Mons Mouton by a Blue Origin Blue Moon MK-1 lander as part of task order CS-7.
It's now expected to launch on Blue Origin's second MK1 mission next year.
additional schedule and supply chain delays pushed VIPER's readiness date to September 2025
NASA has awarded Astrobotic of Pittsburgh $199.5 million to deliver NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the Moon’s South Pole in late 2023.
NASA has requested the Astrobotic and VIPER mission teams to adjust VIPER’s delivery to the Moon’s South Pole to November 2024.
Scheduled to arrive at the lunar South Pole in late 2027 through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative
The rover has a targeted science window for its 100-day mission that requires a landing by late 2027.
NASA’s VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) will embark on a mission to the lunar South Pole region in 2027 to venture into permanently shadowed craters looking for water and other valuable resources essential for sustainable exploration. After delivery to the lunar surface by a Blue Moon Mark 1 lander, VIPER will travel more than 18 miles (30 kilometers), collecting information about the thermal, lighting, and terrain environment in the Moon’s South Pole region. This data could provide information about the origin and distribution of water on the Moon, help determine how lunar resources could be used for the Moon Base, as well as better understand the history of the Moon, Earth, and the processes that helped shape conditions for life. Mission operations for VIPER will be run out of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley where teams are simulating possible scenarios for when the rover begins its mission on the Moon. The VIPER rover is currently at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston where it is fully built and undergoing final testing before traveling to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch to the Moon.
Cite this record
SpaceMiningData, “VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)”, dataset version a00fa2c68a45, built 2026-11-11, https://spaceminingdata.com/missions/nasa-viper.html. Record checked 2026-10-31.