NASA Spent $450M on a Moon Rover. Now It's Canceling the Mission
NASA cancels $450 million VIPER mission to moon's south pole due to delays and budget concerns. Rover replaced with nonfunctional simulator. Components may be repurposed for future missions.
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NASA has decided to cancel the VIPER mission, a $450 million project aimed at sending a robotic rover to search for water ice near the moon's south pole. The cancellation was due to delays and concerns about future budgets, leading to the disassembly of the rover and its replacement with a nonfunctional "mass simulator." The mission was intended to provide crucial information for future lunar exploration but faced uncertainties due to delays in both the VIPER rover and the spacecraft meant to land it on the moon. NASA officials highlighted the difficulty of the decision, emphasizing the need to prioritize missions within budget constraints. Despite the cancellation, NASA plans to repurpose VIPER's components for other missions and is open to proposals from American companies or international partners to utilize the system. The cancellation reflects NASA's efforts to manage costs and prioritize missions in a constrained budget environment, with potential implications for other lunar exploration endeavors.
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- Some question why NASA doesn't send the already-built rover instead of a nonfunctional simulator, suggesting it could be worth the risk.
- Others argue that NASA is avoiding the sunk cost fallacy, implying that further investment in the mission is not justified.
- There are concerns about the broader implications of budget cuts on NASA's science programs and future missions.
- Some comments reflect skepticism about the rover's functionality, suggesting it might not work and that sending it could expose its flaws.
- Political and socio-economic factors are also discussed, with some predicting changes in NASA's direction under future administrations.
13 commentsIf you've already built the rover and are paying to transport it to the moon regardless, why not skip the testing and send the rover instead of a "mass simulator"? Then if it works you have a functional rover on the moon and paying to operate it is worth it, and if it doesn't work then it's the same as if you sent something non-functional on purpose.
NYT doesn’t.
"First and most important, this is in no way a reflection on the quality of the work from the mission team that are working to build this rover," said Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "They have worked diligently, including through the pandemic, to be able to build this rover to look for water on the moon."
...
"Funding for the agency's science programs as a whole was reduced by $1 billion for 2025, Fox said today."
Be it: Semiconductors, green energy (just hit its 2030 targets 6 years earlier), space (just built a space station and plans for a moon base aren't that far away).
I can totally see an eventual trump presidency pouring money into NASA's budget just for bragging rights, seems very weird to cancel the mission before the elections (Plus it benefits trump lobbyists)
Reminds me a little of the SLS which makes no sense at all other than preserving some jobs. The Space Shuttle was also ruined by military requirements that never materialized.
Its sad that $450M seems like a drop in the bucket when it comes to government spending today.
When I was born in 1988 the US had $2.6T in total debt. That number is already insane, but in this case $450M would be around 17% of the total debt accrued over 212 years.
Today we spend a few trillion more than we have every year. When do we collectively wake up and realize it's either or scam or a joke?
Note: I'm ignoring inflation adjusted values here because I'm literally talking about inflation (I.E. money printing). The comparison would be meaningless if I first adjusted for how much debt and money has been created since 1988.
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