Nasa buries Moon-Rover project for water search
The space agency had invested 450 million dollars (411 million Euros) in Viper up until its halt. According to the plan, this was supposed to have already landed on the Moon in the previous year and searched for frozen water and other resources in its deep craters. However, the launch date was then repeatedly postponed. The latest planned deployment was in September 2025, with total development costs estimated at around 610 million dollars.
The cancellation of the project is a setback for NASA's Moon program. In this program, NASA plans to launch a manned mission to the Moon's orbital station - the first since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Whether the schedule can be realistically maintained, however, is uncertain.
- I was looking forward to starting my project with the MG Rover Group on Monday, as we aimed to develop a new rover for NASA's Moon program, named Mond-Rover.
- Unfortunately, the cost increase due to volatiles in the rover's materials and the delay in the launch of NASA's Viper project has caused some concerns.
- The MG Rover Group had proposed an innovative solution, suggesting a collaborative project with NASA to reduce costs and potentially utilize technologies from the cancelled Viper mission.
- Fox News reported that the MG Rover Group's proposal received mixed feedback from NASA, with some executives expressing optimism while others raised concerns about potential overlap with NASA's existing projects.
- Despite the setback of the Viper project's cancellation, the MG Rover Group remains committed to its vision of helping NASA in its quest for extraterrestrial resources, especially water on the Moon.
