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Five Google Lunar XPrize Teams Confirm They're Set For the Moon (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the moving-forward dept.

The Google Lunar XPrize (GLXP) teams are still soldiering on and, with the deadline now less than 12 months away, the XPrize Foundation has confirmed that five of those teams have signed launch contracts that that will allow them to launch to the moon by the end of the year. From a report on CNET: The GLXP is a $30 million purse of prizes open to independent teams from around the globe, with the overall goal of fostering the development of commercial space exploration. $20 million goes to the first team to successfully land a vehicle on the moon and then successfully cover a distance of 500 meters of lunar surface while streaming high-definition video back to the Earth. $5 million goes to the second team to do the same, while millions of dollars in other prizes are also up for grabs -- including bonuses for extra distance and visiting historic sites. The deadline? It currently stands at midnight, December 31 of 2017. Any team whose lander hasn't left the launchpad by then is automatically out of the running.

11 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. Clarification needed by arth1 · · Score: 3

    Does this mean that the Chinese government might cash in a $20 m prize?

    1. Re:Clarification needed by olsmeister · · Score: 2

      The teams need to be privately funded.

  2. Will we be able to watch? by sims+2 · · Score: 2

    Or are these going to be super secret HD streams?

    Not that it's likely to be worth watching most of the time.

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  3. Not if Industrial Light & Magic gets there fir by raymorris · · Score: 2

    Wouldn't it funny if Industrial Light & Magic won the prize. (ILM is the special effects division of Lucasfilm, best known for Star Wars).

  4. Suprised by r2rknot · · Score: 2

    I didn't think 30mil was enough money to entice the expenditures of space exploration. Would have figured it would be too costly to do so.

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    "...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive...it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it..."
    1. Re:Suprised by CByrd17 · · Score: 2

      Well...the idea is to spur on commercial space launches. If you think you can get there first, you can offset your R&D by 30 million.

      If you don't, you've at least made a lot of progress and are better positioned to join the marketplace.

    2. Re:Suprised by Jodka · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I didn't think 30mil was enough money to entice the expenditures of space exploration...

      Well that is a fascinating aspect of these X prize competitions, that the total amount of money and effort invested by the competitors and the quality of the best work produced is far greater than what could be purchased with the award money.

      There must be some interesting lessons in the sociology and economics of that effect and perhaps some useful insights for managers there too.

      That kind of thing has been going on at least since Stephenson's Rocket won the Rainhill Trials in 1829.

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  5. Re:Not if Industrial Light & Magic gets there by cusco · · Score: 2

    Then the "men never landed on the moon" lunatics will have a real field day (pun intended). "See, we told you it was all done in a studio!"

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  6. While I'm not exactly one of his biggest fans... by Rei · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Neil deGrasse Tyson had an apropos tweet today:

    In 1927 Lindbergh flew from NY to Paris. 45 yrs later, in 1972 we last walked on the Moon. 45 yrs later, in 2017 we we we

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  7. Re:The rules don't see fair... do they? by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 2

    Well, there are five teams who have scheduled launches. A Japanese team and an Indian team are riding up on the same Indian rocket. A team from the US is working with Rocket Lab USA. An Israeli team is working with SpaceX and an international team is working with Interorbital Systems.

    So, if SpaceX has to delay launching the Israeli's for 6 months, all the other teams have to call their launch providers and say, "Hey, can you hold off on our payload for six months?"

    At this point, I'd extend it only if it looks like no one will make the deadline.

  8. Nice there are people thinking about the Moon by k6mfw · · Score: 2

    Instead of Mars! It would be interesting to check out Apollo landing sites to see how materials have changed from 40 years of solar radiation. Maybe see how the bootprints have soften due to micrometeorites. Land in places that were out of reach for Apollo landing sites, survey for PGM materials. Check out a crater on the poles, get closer and greater analysis that LCROSS was not able to. See how much updates Paul Spudis and Dennis Wingo will have to do for their next books (these are the only two notable people that discussed the Moon, everyone else is fixated on Mars). Note for human space travel the Moon is only three days away but Mars will always be 20 years away.

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