For Parts: Lunar Rover, Never Used
For Parts: Lunar Rover, Never Used
NASA has canceled VIPER, a rover designed to seek out water ice and other resources in the lunar south pole.
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I have this concept I call "idea cancer." It's when a person or group of people latches onto an idea so hard that carrying out the idea itself becomes prioritized over self interest, broader interest, completion of the overall goal or even common sense. Rules, traditions, industries, technologies, we enshrine them as holy writ. "This makes no sense, let's stop doing this." "We can't, this is how it's done or else."
They've cancelled the mission for being over-budget, but they agreed to pay for a rocket launch...so they're going to launch the rocket with useless ballast. Not pay the company anyway and maybe keep the rocket around for the next thing, not let it go a little over budget, not do a telethon to raise a little more funds...someone asked the gigantic government agency equivalent of "what's the dumbest hole the human body can fart from?"
A lander with a mass sim is a bad look, but it's still a lander. There's value in continuing on with the Astrobotic Griffin as a tech demonstration to support future lunar activities. Griffin also has secondary payloads, including Astrobotic's own little rover.
Also, IIRC, the launch cost is part of the lander contract, so NASA can't just use the launch for something else.
not just the rocket, also the lander to land it on the moon