NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program is in a tricky spot right now. VIPER has been delayed a year, new task orders are being awarded to new teams like the one led by Draper, and Masten is all but dead.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 41 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Matt, The Astrogators at SEE, Chris, Aegis Trade Law, Fred, Hemant, Dawn Aerospace, Andrew, Harrison, Benjamin, and seven anonymous—and 810 other supporters.

Topics

• Commercial Lunar Payload Services | NASA
• NASA delays VIPER lunar rover launch by a year - SpaceNews
• WeMartians Podcast on Twitter: “I feel like maybe VIPER was rushed on to CLPS to give it some credibility. But now it’s two years behind schedule because NASA has changed the design, and the total cost is $433M. We’re not that far off from a Discovery-class mission at this rate.”
• Cash-strapped Masten Space Furloughs Employees, Moon Landing Mission at Risk – Parabolic Arc
• NASA Selects Draper to Fly Research to Far Side of Moon | NASA
• Draper wins NASA contract for farside lunar lander mission - SpaceNews

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• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by ESA/JAXA