ＮＡＳＡ、巨額投じた月面ローバー運用計画を断念

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米航空宇宙局（ＮＡＳＡ）は１７日、コスト超過と遅延のため、これまですでに４億５０００万ドル（約７００億円）を費やした月面ローバー（探査車）の運用計画を中止すると発表した。（写真は米航空宇宙局〈ＮＡＳＡ〉が計画中止を発表した無人探査車「ＶＩＰＥＲ」）
　無人探査車「ＶＩＰＥＲ」は、月の南極を探査し、氷やその他の資源を探すことを目指していた。「アルテミス」計画の一環として、今後数年以内に予定されている米有人ミッションへの道を開くことが目的とされた。
　当初は２０２３年の打ち上げと運用開始が予定されていたが、計画は２４年に延期され、さらに２５年へと延期された。予想されるコストも６億９６０万ドル（約９５０億円）にまで増大した。
　計画の中止についてＮＡＳＡ科学ミッション局のジョエル・カーンス氏は、宇宙競争で中国に遅れを取ることを意味するものではないと主張した。中国は６月、人類史上初めて、月の裏側からのサンプル回収ミッションに成功している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/07/18-19:08）

NASA announced Wednesday that cost overruns and delays have forced it to cancel a planned Moon rover it already spent $450 million to develop, marking a significant setback for the agency's lunar exploration program.
The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) was intended to explore the lunar south pole in search of ice and other resources, paving the way for planned crewed missions by American astronauts under the Artemis program later this decade.
Decisions like this are never easy, said Nicky Fox, NASA's associate administrator of the science mission directorate.
But in this case, the projected remaining expenses for VIPER would have resulted in having to either cancel or disrupt many other missions.
The mobile robot, which NASA had hoped would venture into the Moon's permanently shadowed craters, where ice reserves have endured for billions of years, was originally planned to launch in 2023.
But in 2022, the US space agency requested a launch delay to late 2024 to allow more time for preflight testing of the Griffin lander vehicle, supplied by the Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic under the new Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, a public-private venture.
The launch readiness date of the rover then slipped back further to September 2025, while the cost was projected to rise to $609.6 million.
Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA's science mission directorate, added that Congress had been notified of the agency's decision.
The rover was completely assembled but had not yet undergone certain tests that would certify it could withstand launch, flying through the vacuum of space, and experiencing extreme temperatures, said Kearns.
But it was still possible the rover could be re-used in future missions, either in whole or in component parts, if NASA could reach a suitable agreement with industry partners who might be interested, he said.
Astrobotic, which in January launched the Peregrine lander that failed to reach the Moon, is still on track to launch in late 2025, but it will now carry a mass simulator or heavy weight in place of a NASA rover.
Kearns insisted that despite the setback, the United States was not falling behind in its space rivalry with China, which in June succeeded in returning the first ever samples from the far side of the Moon.
We congratulate China's national space agency for the seemingly very successful Chang'e-6 mission, he said.
But he added that, by partnering with the space industry under the CLPS program, we think that we're going to have a more robust science program and a more robust lunar landing capability in the United States.