Five Teams Left In The Competition Of $30M Private Moon Race

Five out of 16 teams left in the competition of Moon race and eligible for the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE (GLXP). This was announced and verified by the organizers on Jan. 24, 2017.

GLXP senior director Chanda Gonzales-Mowrer said that it is a diverse group with various approaches. She further said that the fact that it is five, they could not be happier.

The teams must lift off by Dec. 31, 2017. The winner or the first private team that lands a spacecraft on the Moon including having the vehicle beam high-resolution photos and videos back to Earth will receive $20 million from GLXP. Meanwhile, the second team to accomplish all the conditions will receive $5 million. The additional $5 million is for the teams that will accomplish special conditions such as detecting water ice on the Moon, according to Space.com.

BBC reports that the five remaining teams eligible for the final stage of the competition are Moon Express from the U.S., Israel's SpaceIL, Hakuto of Japan, India's Team India and the International Outfit Synergy Moon, which is comprised of individuals from more than 15 countries. The other 11 teams failed to accomplish a launch deal before Dec. 31, 2016.

The five teams are now in the final stage of the competition. Gonzales-Mowrer said that in entering the final stretch, they wanted to see and prove that these teams were on manifested launches. She further said that this is significant because it shows they must have money in place because they are now having to make payments to those launch providers. She added that this gives them a lot of confidence, and they are now working with the teams on developing their mission profiles and in setting up the process to judge them.

The Google Lunar XPRIZE is developed in 2007. Its X-Prize Foundation manages several competitions for technological breakthroughs in various fields. These include exploration, climate, education and healthcare.