NASA Cans Lunar Rover After Spending $450 Million Building It

NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) assembled inside the cleanroom at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas (Credit: AFP)

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.