VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)

NASA Presses Forward Search for VIPER Moon Rover Partner

Editor’s note: This release was updated on Feb. 4, 2025, to reflect a change in the deadline for when responses to the proposal are due.

Posted February 3, 2025

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

Earth's Moon

VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)

NASA Explores Industry, Partner Interest in Using VIPER Moon Rover

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.

Posted August 10, 2024

VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

Earth's Moon

Johnson Space Center

Science Mission Directorate

NASA Ends VIPER Project, Continues Moon Exploration

Following a comprehensive internal review, NASA announced Wednesday its intent to discontinue development of its VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project. 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.

Posted July 17, 2024

VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)

Mission Manager Update: VIPER Rover Approved to Move into Environmental Testing!

While NASA’s VIPER team has been focused on building the flight rover that will go to the South Pole of the Moon, the team has also been making preparations for environmental testing of the rover. In April, the VIPER team passed a System Test Readiness Review, exploring the readiness of the facilities, procedures, and staff […]

Posted May 14, 2024

VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)

NASA’s VIPER Gets Its Head and Neck

In this image from Feb. 12, 2024, engineers lift a mast into place on NASA’s VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) robotic Moon rover. VIPER’s mast and the suite of instruments affixed to it look a lot like the rover’s “neck” and “head.” The mast instruments are designed to help the team of rover drivers […]

Posted April 16, 2024

General

Ames Research Center

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

Earth's Moon

VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)

NASA VIPER Robotic Moon Rover Team Raises Its Mighty Mast

NASA’s VIPER – short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover – now stands taller and more capable than ever. And that’s thanks to its mast. VIPER’s mast, and the suite of instruments affixed to it, looks a lot like the rover’s “neck” and “head.” The mast instruments are designed to help the team of rover drivers […]

Posted April 1, 2024

Ames Research Center

Artemis

Missions

NASA Centers & Facilities

Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Inst.

VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)

Luxembourg Leaders Focus on Lunar Exploration at Visit to NASA Ames

The challenges of working on the surface of the Moon are at the center of a facility at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The Lunar Lab and Regolith Testbeds help scientists and engineers – from NASA and industry alike – study how well science instruments, robots, and people might be able to […]

Posted March 9, 2024

VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)

General

Mission Manager Update: All VIPER Flight Instruments Installed!

The VIPER team continues to push forward with the build of the flight rover that’ll go to the surface of the Moon. As of this writing, all of VIPER’s flight instruments are installed, and the rover is more than 80% built! This is a major accomplishment and shows the great progress being made by the […]

Posted February 28, 2024

General

Ames Research Center

Earth's Moon

In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU)

VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)

Into the Belly of the Rover: VIPER’s Final Science Instrument Installed

A team of engineers prepares to integrate TRIDENT – short for The Regolith Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain – into the belly of NASA’s first robotic Moon rover, VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover). TRIDENT, designed and developed by engineers at Honeybee Robotics in Altadena, California, is the fourth and final science instr

Posted February 13, 2024

Ames Research Center

Ames Research Center's Science Directorate

Hayabusa 2

Missions

VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)

NASA Ames Hosts JAXA Leader to Discuss Space Science and Spaceflight

Daniel Andrews, project manager for NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) (left), stands next to a full-scale model of the rover alongside visitors from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA): Dr.

Posted February 7, 2024