{"id":99042,"date":"2025-09-21T15:48:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T15:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/nasa-picks-blue-origin-to-deliver-viper-rover-to-moon-by-2027-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T15:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T15:48:07","slug":"nasa-picks-blue-origin-to-deliver-viper-rover-to-moon-by-2027-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/nasa-picks-blue-origin-to-deliver-viper-rover-to-moon-by-2027-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA picks Blue Origin to deliver VIPER rover to Moon by 2027 | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\">\n<p>NASA has tapped Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, for another major lunar mission under its Artemis programme, awarding it a potential $190 million contract to deliver a rover to the Moon\u2019s South Pole by late 2027.<\/p>\n<p>The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will hunt for water ice and other volatile resources beneath the lunar surface, data which could help shape future missions to both the Moon and Mars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis delivery is one of many ways we\u2019re leveraging US industry to support a long-term American presence on the lunar surface,\u201d said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. He noted the mission will probe permanently shadowed regions, offering crucial insights into potential astronaut landing zones and strategies for long-duration stays.<\/p>\n<p>This is Blue Origin\u2019s second delivery award under NASA\u2019s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Its first mission, using the Blue Moon MK1 lander, is expected later this year. For the VIPER mission, the company will once again deploy an MK1 lander, now in production.<\/p>\n<p>NASA had previously shelved the VIPER project but revived it through this new private-sector partnership, reflecting a shift towards cost-effective collaboration with industry players. \u201cThe search for lunar volatiles plays a key role in NASA\u2019s exploration of the Moon, with implications for both science and human missions,\u201d said Joel Kearns, a senior official at NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate.<\/p>\n<p>The VIPER rover is designed for a 100-day mission, during which it will map and study areas where lunar ice is thought to exist. Blue Origin will handle lander design, integration, and safe rover deployment, while NASA will manage operations and scientific investigations.<\/p>\n<p>With this mission, NASA is aiming to strengthen American leadership in space exploration, laying the groundwork for a sustainable lunar economy and, eventually, human settlement beyond Earth.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA has tapped Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, for another major lunar mission under its Artemis programme, awarding it a potential $190 million contract to deliver a rover to the Moon\u2019s South Pole by late 2027. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will hunt for water ice and other volatile [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/nasa-n1758398348-0\/nasa-n1758398348-0-640x480.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}