SAN FRANCISCO - XPRIZE, has announced that five Google Lunar XPRIZE teams have been awarded a combined $5.25 million in recognition of key technological advancements toward their quest to land a private spacecraft on the surface of the moon. Determined by a judging panel of science, aeronautics, and space industry experts that evaluated numerous tests over the past year, the Milestone Prizes honor hardware and software innovations needed to overcome technical risks in the three crucial areas - imaging, mobility, and landing systems - all of which are necessary to complete a successful Google Lunar XPRIZE mission.
The 9 awarded Milestone Prizes are as follows:
-- Astrobotic (US): IMAGING ($250,000), MOBILITY ($500,000), LANDING ($1M)
-- Hakuto (Japan): MOBILITY ($500,000)
-- Moon Express (US): IMAGING ($250,000), LANDING ($1M)
-- Part-Time Scientists (Germany): IMAGING ($250,000), MOBILITY ($500,000)
-- Team Indus (India): LANDING ($1M)
"The $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE is asking teams to accomplish a feat that has never been achieved-the safe landing of a private craft on the lunar surface that travels at least 500 meters and transmits high-definition video and imagery back to Earth," said Robert K. Weiss, vice chairman and president, XPRIZE.
For each Milestone Prize category, teams carried out a number of hardware tests representative of their planned lunar mission, while sharing extensive design information and analysis with the judging panel. The Landing prizes have been awarded to teams that demonstrated advanced progress on their spacecraft that will land on the moon, the Mobility prizes recognize the vehicle that will need to move across the lunar surface and the Imaging prizes acknowledge the camera system needed to send high definition imagery and video to back to Earth.
The Google Lunar XPRIZE is an ambitious project to privately fund lunar exploration. The project has suffered from a few delays. The original launch date was planned for the end of 2015, but has now been delayed until the end of 2016.
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