Aim:
Winner takes it all $30 million competition to challenge and inspire engineers, entrepreneurs and innovators from around the world to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration.
Who is the Winner:
The First team to do the following will take home the grand prize of $20 million;
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Successfully place a spacecraft on the moon’s surface
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Travel 500 meters
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Transmit High Definition images and video back to earth
The second team to complete this mission takes home $5 Million, while there would be a compensation price of $5 million.
The Teams Must:
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prove that 90% of their mission costs were funded by private sources.
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have until the end of 2016 to announce a verified launch contract to remain in the competition
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complete their mission by the end of 2017.
Teams and Countries With Launch Contracts:
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SpaceIL -Israel: first team to receive verification and approval of their launch contract to move forward in the competition; they are contracted to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Planned launch date is Q2, 2017.
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Moon Express – US ; second team to receive verification and approval of their launch contract to move forward in the competition; they are contracted with rocket Lab USA’s MX-1E lunar lander on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket. Planned launch date is 2017.
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Synergy Moon -International: Third Google Lunar XPRIZE Team to Receive Approval for 2017 Lunar Mission; they are contracted to launch on Interorbital Systems’s Neptune 9. Planned launch date is Q2, 2017.
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Team Indus – India: The Fourth Google Lunar XPRIZE Team to Receive Approval for 2017 Lunar Mission; Team Indus signed a commercial launch contract with the Indian Space Research Organization, and will be using a polar satellite launch vehicle. Planned launch date is December 28, 2017.
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Hakuto – Japan: The Fifth Google Lunar XPRIZE Team to Receive Approval for 2017 Lunar Mission; on a rideshare partnership with the India-based competitor, Team Indus, to carry its 4-wheeled rover to the Moon. Planned launch date is December 28, 2017.
Team Yet to Secure Launch Contracts:
- Astrobotic (USA), Team Italia (Italy), Stellar (International), Indepedence X (Malaysia), Omega Envoy (USA), Euroluna (International), Part Time Scientists (Germany), Team Puli (Hungary), Spacemeta (Brazil), Plan B (Canada), Andelicvm (Chile).
