NASA Revives Critical Moon Mission, the VIPER Project

Metaverse Planet September 22, 2025Last Updated: November 11, 2025

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NASA plans to send the canceled VIPER Moon rover to the Moon again in 2027 in partnership with Blue Origin. With VIPER, NASA will search for water ice and resources at the Moon’s south pole.

The VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project, which was canceled last year due to rising costs and delays, may now reach the Moon thanks to a new collaboration with Blue Origin. NASA is preparing to revive the VIPER rover, planned for a lunar mission, in 2027. NASA will undertake this initiative as part of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

VIPER is Reborn

To deliver VIPER to the Moon, Blue Origin must plan how the landing will be executed and successfully demonstrate it. If NASA approves this plan, VIPER will be transported by the company’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander.

On the other hand, Blue Origin has not yet attempted a lunar landing, but the first test of the company’s Mark 1 lander is scheduled for later this year as part of another CLPS mission. This test will also help NASA decide on the use of the second Mark 1 lander planned for VIPER. NASA states that the production of the lander to be used for VIPER is already underway.

The VIPER program is of critical importance for the broader planned missions to the Moon. Indeed, VIPER will begin its mission in an environment with extreme conditions at the Moon’s south pole, where it will search for water ice and other resources.

VIPER was originally scheduled to launch at the end of 2023 but was postponed to 2024 and finally to 2025 due to delays. The program’s cancellation was announced in July 2024. At that time, it was stated that despite VIPER‘s cancellation, NASA still had a series of different missions planned to search for ice and other resources on the Moon.