Fighting for VIPER on Capitol Hill

When NASA announced the termination of the VIPER project in July 2024, there was widespread outrage across the planetary science community. Many team members and supporters felt deeply aggrieved that many years of effort were being made redundant without a sound scientific or engineering rationale. 

In particular, many early-career researchers within the community were left struggling to figure out how their research careers and projects would move forward in the absence of VIPER and the crucial scientific investigations that it would undertake. Many of us working in the United States from abroad were also worried about how the project’s cancellation would affect our visas, funding, and career prospects. 

Our approach to challenging NASA’s decision was multi-pronged. Firstly, we organized an open letter to Congress asking them to refuse authorization of NASA’s decision, which was signed by over 5,000 people in the United States and worldwide. Secondly, we were delighted to be able to work with The Planetary Society to engage with policymakers directly through advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill. We felt that direct engagement with members and staffers from the relevant Science and Appropriations committees was the only real option left for saving the mission, given NASA’s stated intention to deconstruct the rover if no buyer was found.

As two newcomers to the U.S. space policy scene, neither of us was particularly aware of what advocacy for VIPER would look like. The Planetary Society’s space policy and advocacy guidance was invaluable for preparing us to speak up for our mission. They trained us in advocacy, helped us develop our talking points, and practiced with us until we were confident in our pitch. We were also buoyed by the enormous outpouring of support from the community and beyond and tried to carry some of this momentum and energy to our meetings and discussions. 

The preparation for our Capitol Hill campaign was meticulous. With The Planetary Society’s help, we orchestrated data-driven briefings designed to resonate with congressional staffers across the political spectrum, carefully calibrating our message to align their legislative priorities with our mission-critical objectives. Our schedule was a gauntlet of thirteen meetings compressed into forty-eight hours. 

Initial jitters subsided the moment we stepped into our first briefing, replaced by the electric realization that we were speaking directly to the architects of national space policy and federal budget allocation. These conversations demanded extraordinary mental agility. We had to pivot instantly between technical exposition and political pragmatism, working to ignite passion for VIPER — a lunar rover that represents not just a machine, but the culmination of thousands of careers of our friends and colleagues and the gateway to humanity's return to the Moon.

Navigating the maze of House and Senate offices required military-grade precision. We sprinted through the labyrinthine tunnels beneath the Capitol complex, even hopping on the Capitol  Subway between buildings to make back-to-back meetings. Each conversation demanded a fresh energy and a completely recalibrated approach, as we adapted our message to resonate with each office's unique political landscape.

The campaign left us drained yet triumphant. While the final impact on NASA's budget remains to be seen, we emerged with a conviction in the power of informed advocacy. When you champion a cause you believe in, you can move mountains — or, in our case, perhaps help send a rover to explore them on another world.