Powering India to Moon – TeamIndus among 5 finalists to compete for Google Lunar XPRIZE worth $30 mn

New Delhi: TeamIndus, the only Indian team competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE worth $30 million, has made it to the final phase of the competition.

According to a statement from XPRIZE and Google, five teams, including TeamIndus, have been shortlisted to land an unmanned spacecraft on the surface of the Moon.

“All teams had until December 31, 2016 to have a verified launch contract in place. XPRIZE has verified the launch contracts of the following five teams, who are moving forward to the final phase of the competition,” said the statement.

The five teams, who are moving forward to the final phase of the competition are - SpaceIL (Israel), Moon Express (USA), Synergy Moon (International), TeamIndus (India) and HAKUTO (Japan).

To win the prestigious Google Lunar XPRIZE award, a privately funded team must successfully place a robot on the Moon that explores at least 500 meters and transmits high-definition video and images back to Earth.

Earlier, TeamIndus announced that it had signed an official launch contract with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in December, last year to send the rover to the lunar surface. Under the deal, the Indian space agency will help TeamIndus launch its spacecraft using ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The launch is scheduled to take place in December 2017 from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

XPRIZE and Google also said that a $1 million Diversity Prize will be split among 16 Google Lunar XPRIZE teams in recognition of the diverse mission plans of each of these teams and their unique approaches and initiatives over the years.

“XPRIZE and Google have been awestruck by the educational outreach activities conducted by all of the competing teams and have decided to split the $1 million Diversity Prize across all 16 teams to recognize each of their unique approaches and initiatives over the years,” said Chanda Gonzales-Mowrer, senior director, Google Lunar XPRIZE.

The $30M Google Lunar XPRIZE is an unprecedented competition to challenge and inspire engineers and entrepreneurs from around the world to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration.