Space News reports that NASA has stopped work on the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER). The space agency has run out of money and, absent a last-minute salvation by Congress or either a commercial or international entity, the mission will not fly.

Laura Forczyk, founder and executive director of the space consulting firm Astralytical, has a good rundown of the history and the implications of the decision.

VIPER was envisioned as a prospector for lunar ice, which scientists believe exists at the lunar poles. It was to be delivered by an Astrobotic Griffin lander and would roll across the lunar surface looking for the ice with a variety of instruments and a drill.

NASA considers lunar ice essential for long-term exploration of the moon and exploitation of its abundant resources. If future lunar explorers can mine the ice, they have water for drinking and agriculture. The water can be split into hydrogen and oxygen and used as rocket fuel and the latter element for breathing. Maintaining a lunar settlement would be far more feasible.

NASA seeing a major project balloon over its initial projected cost estimate........

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