NASA selects Blue Origin to deliver VIPER rover to lunar south pole

NASA has revived the VIPER lunar rover program by selecting Blue Origin to deliver the 450 kilogram Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover to the moon’s south polar region in late 2027, the agency announced Sept. 19. The award is a roughly 190 million task order under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program and calls for Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander to carry VIPER to the surface, though the delivery is contingent on design work and a successful first Mark 1 landing.

Under the contract, known internally as CLPS CS7, the initial award funds design work to adapt Blue Moon to accommodate VIPER and to develop procedures for offloading the rover after touchdown. NASA can exercise a follow-on option to fund the delivery only after Blue Origin completes that work and the company’s first Blue Moon Mark 1 lander achieves a successful lunar landing. Blue Origin said its second Mark 1 lander is already in production and touted the mission as important for "future lunar permanence," in a social media post.

The decision reverses NASA’s July 2024 cancellation of VIPER, which officials scrapped amid mounting cost growth and schedule concerns. That cancellation left...