Should there be several hundred million dollars burning a hole through the pockets of your bespoke trousers and/or space suit, has NASA got a deal for you!
According to a piece in The Economist, NASA is selling its latest lunar lander, a mobile drilling rig called Viper that aimed to probe the moon’s south pole for water ice. There’s a fascinating video (embedded below) detailing Viper’s ambitions. NASA published the video three years ago, but clearly, those ambitions have changed.
NASA
The Economist notes that Viper is nearly finished, even undergoing final testing and calibration, but that the $433 Million project had nearly doubled its initial budget of $250 Million. That means NASA can’t reach any deeper into its coffers.
Instead of completing Viper’s final testing and calibration under its own banner, NASA hopes to hand off the project to the commercial sector. The purchaser will still be on the hook to finalize the rover, the article says. Then the purchaser must land Viper on the moon, complete the rover’s original mission, and share any relevant data gathered.
It’s a challenge reserved only for the most monied and ambitious companies on this planet. If you feel up to the task, well, you’ve probably got a better way of contacting NASA than I do.
Just remember, no low-ballers. NASA knows what it’s got.