New Delhi: About a year ago, NASA cancelled its Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission , that was headed to the Moon on board Astrobotic’s Griffin lander because of delayed development and potentially ballooning budgets. NASA had been evaluating alternative options for delivering the rover to the lunar surface, and has now awarded a contract to Blue origin as a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) task order. The order is for designing the accommodations necessary to carry the VIPER and the mechanism to lower the rover onto the lunar surface. NASA will make a final decision based on the hardware design, and the performance of the first Blue Moon lander mission, planned by the end of the year.

Blue Origin plans to dispatch its second Blue Moon lander to the

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