NASA’s Abandoned Lunar Robot Could Get Rescue Mission from Lunar Startup

Intuitive Machines is considering acquiring a four-wheeled lunar rover after NASA canceled a planned trip to the moon due to budget constraints.

The Houston-based company is preparing a response to NASA’s request for interest from organizations that would like to partner with the space agency to send a rover to the moon, company officials revealed in a recent earnings conference call. NASA would provide its water-hunting robot as-is, and the selected company or organization would do the rest to land the mission on the moon and handle some or all of its science goals.

VIPER, or Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, was designed to find and study water ice at the moon’s south pole. The $450 million mission was scheduled to launch in September 2025 aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin lander, which was to deliver the rover to the moon under a Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract. The mission has experienced several supply chain delays, and NASA recently decided to cancel VIPER’s lunar voyage out of concern that it would disrupt other commercial lunar missions.

NASA, when it first broke the news, revealed that it would dismantle the VIPER rover and use its parts for future missions. However, the decision sparked outrage from the scientific community over the loss of the valuable robot. In response, NASA suddenly called on organizations to take over its lunar robot and send it to the Moon.

Intuitive Machines has risen to the occasion; it is currently working with other companies, research organizations and international partners to respond to NASA’s request for information, SpaceNews reported on a conference call regarding financial results. “Our position is that the VIPER science is important to lunar scientists and the future of the Artemis program, and it is also very important in terms of looking for volatiles and water ice in the soil,” Steve Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines, said in the conference call.

The company is no stranger to the moon. Intuitive Machines launched its Odysseus lander in February as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The lunar lander managed to touch down on the lunar surface, but its landing wasn’t so smooth. It appears that one of Odysseus’ legs got caught during descent, causing it to tip over on its side and likely land on a rock.

Hopefully, he’ll have better luck with VIPER. During the call, Intuitive Machines representatives revealed that the lunar rover could be aboard the upcoming Nova-D lander (which is currently in development). The rover is set to launch in late 2027.

NASA did most of the work building the robot, although the space agency has made clear it will not spend more money on the canceled lunar mission. “It is the intent that any partnership will involve minimal or no additional cost to NASA,” the space agency wrote in its request for information. In addition, if Intuitive Machines is selected to acquire VIPER, NASA wants its partner to reimburse it for all costs, including additional rover testing, payload preparation and science team support.

NASA has previously turned to the private sector for help. In 2018, the space agency canceled Lunar Resources Prospector (LRP), another lunar rover with similar goals. But after the launch of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, NASA promised to send LRP on a future private mission to the moon.

The news that the VIPER mission was canceled was equally disappointing, but we hope that both missions will land on the lunar surface in the future.

More: How small teams at Intuitive Machines are solving big lunar challenges