{"id":311985,"date":"2024-10-01T18:52:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T13:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=311985"},"modified":"2024-10-01T18:52:17","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T13:22:17","slug":"nasas-cancellation-of-the-viper-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/nasas-cancellation-of-the-viper-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA’s cancellation of the VIPER mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: The post NASA’s cancellation of the VIPER mission has been created, based on the article \u201cSteady but slow: India\u2019s space programme needs more resources to realise its full potential<\/strong>\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu<\/strong>\u201d on 1st October is 2024<\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus Topic:<\/strong> GS Paper 3- Awareness in the fields of Space.<\/p>\n

Context<\/strong>: The article discusses NASA’s cancellation of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission to the moon due to delays and costs. It highlights India’s opportunity to lead with its lunar missions but points out ISRO’s limited capacity to handle multiple large missions simultaneously.<\/p>\n

For detailed information on NASA\u2019s VIPER Mission<\/strong>read this article here<\/a><\/p>\n

Why did NASA cancel the VIPER mission?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. NASA canceled the VIPER mission in July due to delays and rising costs.<\/li>\n
  2. By this time, engineers had fully assembled the rover and completed some tests. VIPER was supposed to map water-ice in the moon\u2019s south pole.<\/li>\n
  3. The rover was to be launched using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, with Astrobotic\u2019s ‘Griffin’ lander, as part of NASA\u2019s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Why did this cancellation draw international attention?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. NASA’s decision drew attention from the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and the international community.<\/li>\n
    2. The mission\u2019s cancellation is seen as an opportunity for China, which is advancing its lunar program.<\/li>\n
    3. VIPER was expected to strengthen the US-led ‘lunar axis’ under the Artemis Accords.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      How did India respond to NASA\u2019s cancellation? <\/strong><\/h2>\n
        \n
      1. India successfully landed Chandrayaan-3 on the moon on August 23, 2023, joining an elite group of countries with autonomous lunar soft-landing capabilities.<\/li>\n
      2. The Union Cabinet approved Chandrayaan-4 on September 18, 2023, a mission to return samples from the moon.<\/li>\n
      3. ISRO follows a “one major mission at a time” approach, maximizing resource efficiency but limiting its ability to handle multiple missions simultaneously.<\/li>\n
      4. ISRO is planning a “Lunar Polar Explorer” mission with Japan, which could perform tasks similar to NASA’s cancelled VIPER mission, especially exploring moon\u2019s water-ice deposits.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Question for practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Discuss how NASA\u2019s cancellation of the VIPER mission has opened opportunities for India\u2019s lunar exploration program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Source: The post NASA’s cancellation of the VIPER mission has been created, based on the article \u201cSteady but slow: India\u2019s space programme needs more resources to realise its full potential\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 1st October is 2024 UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 3- Awareness in the fields of Space. Context: The article discusses… Continue reading NASA’s cancellation of the VIPER mission<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,1227],"tags":[216,242,10498],"class_list":["post-311985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-science-and-technology","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-science-and-technology","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311985\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}