Google Lunar X Prize Comes To An End, As Team Indus' Dream Of Going To The Moon Suffers Blow
25 January, 2018
Having spent the better part of the last 10 years to encourage private aerospace companies to land on the moon, the Google Lunar X Prize competition came to a quiet end yesterday. Its prize of US $20 million going unrewarded, as the talent it discovered realized just how difficult it is to land something on the moon.
The organizers at the X Prize Foundation conceded that none of the five remaining entrants -- including India's Team Indus -- have a chance of getting off the ground by the deadline at the end of March. Although they were disappointed to not have a winner, the organizers maintained that the competition was a success.
Bangalore-based Team Indus -- the only Indian entrant in the international Google contest for landing a rover on the moon -- needed to successfully place a robot on the moon that will move around for at least 500 metres and send back HD videos and images back to earth.
"As a result of this competition, we have sparked the conversation and changed expectations with regard to who can land on the moon. Many now believe it's no longer the sole purview of a few government agencies, but now may be achieved by small teams of entrepreneurs, engineers, and innovators from around the world," said a statement from Peter H. Diamandis, the foundation's founder and executive chairman, and Marcus Shingles, the chief executive.
The competition kicked off with a lot of fanfare in 2007, when Google financed the X Prize for the first privately financed spacecraft to make it to space. That initial prize was won by the SpaceShipOne vehicle designed by Burt Rutan and financed by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul G. Allen.
The foundation raised the possibility of a new sponsor or continuing the competition without any cash prizes.
The competition started with more than 25 teams. The five remaining in the end were Moon Express, based in Cape Canaveral, Florida; SpaceIL in Israel; TeamIndus in India; Hakuto in Japan; and Synergy Moon, an international collaboration.