Google Lunar X Prize Picks Teams from US, Japan, Germany and India for Prize Purse

Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) selected five teams as finalists for Milestone Prizes worth a total of $6 million today in the effort’s quest to incentivize privately funded teams to send a robotic rover to the surface of the Moon by the end of 2015.  The winner of the overall competition will receive a grand prize of $20 million.

The Milestone Prizes are an optional part of the competition and provide funding to competitors to demonstrate hardware and software that will overcome technical risks associated with their missions.  If a winner of a Milestone Prize wins the overall competition, the money is subtracted from the $20 million.  The same is true for a second place finish, which wins $5 million.   Teams that do not win first or second place keep the money.

The goal of the competition is to land a rover on the Moon that then travels at least 500 meters and transmits high definition video and imagery to Earth.  The deadline for achieving the goal is December 31, 2015.  Bonus Prizes totaling $4 million can be won if the rover survives the lunar night, travels more than 5 kilometers, detects water, or makes a precision landing near an Apollo lunar landing site or other place of interest. 

Eighteen teams remain in the race, which began in 2007.

The five teams announced today were selected by an independent panel of nine judges who made awards in three categories: Landing System Milestone Prize ($1 million per team), Mobility System Milestone Prize ($500,000 per team), and Imaging Subsystem Milestone Prize ($250,000 per team).

The five teams and the categor(ies) in which they won are:

• Astrobotic (U.S.) — all three categories, for a potential total of $1.75 million
• Moon Express (U.S.) — all three categories, for a potential total of $1.75 million
• Team Indus (India) — Landing System and Imaging Subsystem, for a potential total of $1.25 million
• Hakuto (Japan) — Mobility System, for a potential total of $500,000
• Part-Time-Scientists (Germany) – Mobility System and Imaging Subsystem, for a potential total of $750,000

The teams were required to submit details on the technical risks they face and how they plan to solve them.  To win the prizes announced today, they must accomplish those plans in accordance with milestones provided in their submissions.  Teams are expected to meet all the milestones by September 30, 2014.

Governments are not allowed to participate directly in the Google Lunar X PRIZE, nor are nationals and residents of certain countries restricted by U.S. export laws or sanctions (including Burma/Myanmar, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria).

As the name implies, the Prize is sponsored by Google and administered through the X PRIZE Foundation.