The VIPER pushbackIt's one thing to take a chance with relatively modest scientific experiments; it's another thing to put major NASA missions on CLPS. But that's what Zurbuchen decided to do in June 2020 by awarding the VIPER mission to a CLPS provider, Astrobotic. The company received a $199.5 million contract to deliver VIPER—the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover—to the south pole as early as late 2023. It is scheduled to fly there on the company's still-in-development Griffin lander.This is an important scientific mission tasked with searching for ice at the south pole and using a one-meter drill to prospect for subsurface samples. The total value of the mission is $660 million, and it matters to scientists and NASA's human exploration division, which hopes to send astronauts to the south pole in the 2020s.Because there was so much riding on VIPER, Zurbuchen has received pressure from within and outside of NASA, from scientists and politicians alike, to move to a more "traditional" delivery for VIPER. For a typical NASA science mission, this would mean that NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory would design the lander and then contract out its construction to a traditional contractor, most commonly Lockheed Martin.
Co-chair Philip Christensen says the decadal is open to expanding CLPS (commercial lunar payload services) to other destinations once it’s successfully demonstrated on the Moon; Mars and asteroids come to mind.
NASA, ESA Finalize Agreements on Climate, Artemis Cooperation:https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-esa-finalize-agreements-on-climate-artemis-cooperation
NASA is planning to arrange for the delivery of ESA’s Lunar Pathfinder spacecraft to lunar orbit via a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) delivery, and the Lunar Pathfinder spacecraft is expected to orbit the Moon and provide lunar communication services for assets on the lunar surface. NASA will award a task order after issuing a competitive request for task plans to its domestic lunar service providers in the CLPS vendor pool. ESA is working with the UK-based company Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. on the development of Lunar Pathfinder. Lunar Pathfinder is designed to offer S-band and Ultra-High Frequency channels for communications with lunar assets, and communications will be relayed back to Earth ground station(s) in X-band frequencies.
NASA delays the VIPER lunar rover mission by a year to November 2024, and adds $67.8 million to @astrobotic's CLPS contract (now totaling $320.4 million) for additional ground testing of the Griffin lunar lander.
Jul 18, 2022NASA Replans CLPS Delivery of VIPER to 2024 to Reduce RiskNASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative allows rapid acquisition of lunar delivery services from American companies for payloads that advance capabilities for science, exploration or commercial development of the Moon. Through CLPS, NASA contracted Astrobotic of Pittsburgh to deliver the agency’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the lunar surface in search of ice and other potential resources. The measurements returned by VIPER will provide insight into the origin and distribution of water on the Moon and help determine how the Moon’s resources could be harvested for future human space exploration. While VIPER was originally scheduled for lunar delivery by Astrobotic in November 2023, NASA has requested the Astrobotic and VIPER mission teams to adjust VIPER’s delivery to the Moon’s South Pole to November 2024. NASA’s decision to pursue a 2024 delivery date results from the agency’s request to Astrobotic for additional ground testing of the company’s Griffin lunar lander, which will deliver VIPER to the lunar surface through CLPS. The additional tests aim to reduce the overall risk to VIPER’s delivery to the Moon. To complete the additional NASA-mandated tests of the Griffin lunar lander, an additional $67.8 million has been added to Astrobotic’s CLPS contract, which now totals $320.4 million. “Through CLPS, NASA has tasked U.S. companies to perform a very challenging technological feat – to successfully land and operate on the Moon,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “VIPER is NASA’s largest and most sophisticated science payload to be delivered to the Moon through CLPS, and we've implemented enhanced lander testing for this particular CLPS surface delivery.”CLPS is a key part of NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration plans. The science and technology payloads sent to the Moon’s surface will help lay the foundation for human missions on and around the Moon. The agency has made seven task order awards to CLPS providers for lunar deliveries between in the early 2020s with more delivery awards expected through 2028.For more information, visit:https://www.nasa.gov/clpsLast Updated: Jul 18, 2022Editor: Tricia Talbert
Glaze: re Moon, first CLPS missions will launch this year. Have 9 already. Three years ago, zero, now 9. Very exciting.
Only eight active CLPS missions I’m aware of: Intuitive Machines (3), Astrobotic (2), Draper, Firefly and Masten. And Masten’s mission is very much in doubt now.
https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/status/1560343096533176324QuoteGlaze: re Moon, first CLPS missions will launch this year. Have 9 already. Three years ago, zero, now 9. Very exciting.https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1560344200801034242QuoteOnly eight active CLPS missions I’m aware of: Intuitive Machines (3), Astrobotic (2), Draper, Firefly and Masten. And Masten’s mission is very much in doubt now.Either there's an unannounced CLPS mission, or they're counting the uncrewed HLS demo as CLPS.
Jeff Foust was already counting Masten. Officially, Masten hasn't given up on the mission. My guess is that the 9th mission is this one:https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-new-instruments-for-priority-artemis-science-on-moonhttps://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=45580.msg2373945#msg2373945
Quote from: yg1968 on 08/19/2022 03:56 pmJeff Foust was already counting Masten. Officially, Masten hasn't given up on the mission. My guess is that the 9th mission is this one:https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-new-instruments-for-priority-artemis-science-on-moonhttps://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=45580.msg2373945#msg2373945I think you are on the right track, but it's more complicated than that. Those are experiment packages, not the actual CLPS missions, and they will launch on two separate missions, not one, that have not yet been contracted. There are also eight contracted missions, but I think they dropped Masten, so we end up with nine. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Lunar_Payload_Services#List_of_missions_announced_under_CLPSThe two planned-but-not-contracted missions seem to line up with the announcement you linked to.
“NASA received notification its payloads slated for delivery aboard Masten Mission One may be impacted by Masten business operations. The agency is working closely with the company to ensure that any potential changes comply with Federal Acquisition Regulations,” NASA said in a July 29 statement. “In the event Masten Space Systems is unable to complete its task order, NASA will manifest its payloads on other CLPS flights.”
