spacetoday.net: Google Lunar X PRIZE selects finalists for milestone prizes

Posted: Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 7:04 AM ET (1204 GMT)
Google Lunar X Prize logo

A team of judges has selected five times as finalists to compete for a set of "milestone" prizes intended to give them momentum towards achieving the ultimate goal of landing spacecraft on the Moon. The five teams eligible for the prizes are Astrobotic and Moon Express from the US, Team Indus from India, Hakuto from Japan, and Part-Time Scientists from Germany. The prizes are for the demonstration of key subsystems for spacecraft designed to land on and move across the surface of the Moon, including landing systems, mobility systems, and imaging systems. A total of $6 million of the $30-million prize purse has been allocated to those milestone prizes; teams that win the milestone prizes later this year would have the $20-million grand prize reduced accordingly if they are the first to land on and move at least 500 meters across the lunar surface by the end of next year. Teams not eligible for the milestone prizes are still able to compete for the grand prize.