NASA’s Artemis lunar rover, the VIPER, had aimed to explore the lunar south pole in search of ice and other resources.

CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) on Thursday announced the cancellation of its planned moon rover mission, citing cost overruns and launch delays, in a major setback for the agency’s lunar exploration program. According to NASA, they have already spent around 450 million dollars on the program’s development so far.

“Decisions like this are never easy…But in this case, the projected remaining expenses for VIPER would have resulted in having to either cancel or disrupt many other missions,” NASA’s associate administrator of the science mission directorate, Nicky Fox, said, as quoted by news agency AFP.