An Open Letter To Congress Opposing VIPER Cancellation That You Can Sign

Source: PSI Planetary Exploration Newsletter: “As many of you will have seen, earlier this week NASA made the shocking decision to cancel the VIPER project following completion of the rover’s build. It now faces the prospect of being dismembered. We have organized an open letter to Congress from the wider science community asking them to refuse any request to cancel this mission, by ensuring that it continues to be included as a budgetary line-item. You can find this letter here: https://forms.gle/XDSzTra4NPSS1VC27 If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the letter’s organizers, Dr Benjamin Fernando ([email protected]) or Dr Parvathy Prem ([email protected]) who have organized this letter in a personal capacity.”

Letter to Congress: Refuse to authorize NASA’s cancellation of the VIPER Moon mission

On July 17, NASA announced the cancellation of the VIPER lunar rover after many years and nearly $500M of development. We, as the wider scientific community and members of the public, have organized this open letter to relevant US Representatives and Senators to ask them to oppose NASA’s cancellation of the mission.

The text of the letter is below. By signing, you agree that your name, affiliation (optional), and district will be shared with the recipients of the letter. We may contact you via email with updates about the campaign. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the letter’s organizers, Dr Benjamin Fernando ([email protected]) or Dr Parvathy Prem ([email protected]) who have organized this letter in a personal capacity.

Request to refuse NASA’s cancellation of the VIPER Moon mission

Dear Members of the United States House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology; Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; House and Senate Appropriations Committees; and the Congressional Planetary Science Caucus,

We write to you as members of the public with an interest in lunar science and exploration, many of whom are from your district or state.

We are deeply concerned by NASA’s shocking announcement on July 17 that it intends to discontinue the VIPER lunar rover mission. VIPER was to be a groundbreaking American project and the first NASA mission to characterize the origin and distribution of water ice on and below the surface of the Moon, a key step in enabling human exploration and addressing high priority science objectives identified in the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey. The capabilities of the VIPER rover to map ice under the surface are unmatched and cannot be replicated by uncoordinated flights of individual instruments on small landers.

Further, the mission is a key component of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, and would be a compelling demonstration of partnership between NASA and the growing US commercial space sector. The VIPER rover itself is already fully built and was scheduled to undergo final testing in the coming months prior to launch in 2024/5. The decision to cancel the project at this stage, after spending $450 million, is both unprecedented and indefensible. We are incredulous that NASA’s new plan is to spend $323 million (the value of NASA’s contract with lander provider Astrobotic) to launch a non-functioning “mass simulator” to the Moon in place of the rover.

VIPER remains a key part of the United States’ roadmap for a return to the Moon. Without it, the United States risks losing its leading position in lunar exploration. The risks to other NASA missions, including the return of astronauts to the Moon as part of the Artemis program, are also heightened because of the loss of knowledge about the lunar South Pole terrain and properties. This decision is also likely to lead to the loss of valuable talent and knowledge at NASA, with members of the team spread across centers and universities in nearly a dozen states and territories.

The decision to cancel the mission was taken by NASA without giving the wider VIPER team or lunar exploration community an opportunity to propose cost-saving solutions or alternatives to the dismemberment or scrapping of the rover. We are therefore writing to you and your congressional colleagues to urge NASA to reconsider this decision, including taking steps to ensure VIPER remains as an item within the Agency’s budget.

Yours sincerely,

The undersigned