VIPER has officially come back from the dead.

The NASA moon robot, whose name is short for "Volatiles Investigating Polar Explorer Rover," will hitch a ride to the lunar surface with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin in late 2027, agency officials announced this afternoon.

"NASA is leading the world in exploring more of the moon than ever before, and this delivery is just one of many ways we’re leveraging U.S. industry to support a long-term American presence on the lunar surface," acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said in a statement today.

The VIPER mission took shape as an envisioned key piece of NASA's Artemis program, which seeks to establish a long-term, sustainable human presence on and around the moon by 2030 or so.

That presence will be centered on the moon's south polar region, whic

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