The moon rover mission is canceled by NASA due to rising expenses and postponed launches.

• The Viper moon rover project by NASA has been canceled due to high costs and delays in launch.
• The rover, named Viper, was designed to investigate the moon's south pole for signs of water.
• Astrobotic Technology will fly its Griffin moon lander by the end of next year without a moon rover.

NASA announced on Wednesday that it has decided to cancel its lunar rover mission due to budget constraints and schedule issues.

The space agency stated that the Viper rover's launch, scheduled for late 2023 on an Astrobotic Technology lander, was delayed due to additional testing and increased costs, which threatened other projects.

NASA stated that about $450 million had been spent on the development of the rover, which aimed to explore the moon's south pole.

NASA has announced plans to investigate the existence of lunar ice through various projects, just before the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission that put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon on July 20, 1969.

Astrobotic is still planning to launch its Griffin moon lander without a rover by the end of next year, despite the failure of its first moonshot in January, which resulted in a fiery plunge over the South Pacific.