Final phase of Google Lunar X-Prize starts now

[Streetwind]

The X-Prize foundation just announced that five teams are cleared to proceed into the final phase of the competition. They earned that right by having a verified launch contract in place by December 31st, 2016.

Originally, 29 teams participated. 13 either dropped out or merged with other temas over the course of the competition. Another 11 have now been disqualified for not submitting a launch contract in time for the deadline, which had already been extended several times. However, at least three of the teams not among the final five have announced plans to launch anyway, on their own time - even though they will not be eligible for any part of the $30 million prize pool.

The remaining five teams and their launch service providers are, in no particular order:

- Moon Express (USA), launching on Electron (Rocket Lab)
- SpaceIL (Israel), launching on a rideshare mission brokered by Spaceflight Industries, using a Falcon 9 (SpaceX)
- Synergy Moon (International), launching on Neptune 8 (Interorbital Systems)
- Team Indus (India), launching on PSLV-XL (Antrix Corp/ISRO)
- Team Hakuto (Japan), hitching a ride on the Team Indus spacecraft

Interesting to see the wide variety of nationalities and launch vehicles present. Especially interesting are those two launch vehicles (Electron and Neptune 8) that have not even flown yet as of the writing of this post. Will they be operational in time? And will SpaceX's immensely backlogged manifest allow SpaceIL to fly in time?

In order to be eligible for any part of the prize pool, a team's spacecraft must lift off no later than December 31st, 2017. Aside from that absolute deadline, the winner is decided by who is first to land and perform the minimum required tasks: soft-land to a complete stop, then travel 500 meters across the surface by any means, then transmit HD video back to Earth. The first team to do this will be awarded $20 million, the second team will get $5 million. The remaining $5 million is split up among various secondary objectives, such as surviving a lunar night, traveling 5 kilometers, or taking pictures/video of manmade objects on the surface (themselves or other competitors excluded).

Edited January 25, 2017 by Streetwind

[DerekL1963]

7 hours ago, Streetwind said:

Aside from that absolute deadline

Absolute only so long as the Prize committee doesn't extend it (again).

And none of them have displayed any hardware or given any significant indication that they have actual hardware or are anywhere close NAICT...  

[Streetwind]

15 minutes ago, DerekL1963 said:

Absolute only so long as the Prize committee doesn't extend it (again).

And none of them have displayed any hardware or given any significant indication that they have actual hardware or are anywhere close NAICT...  

That's a given, of course. Though another extension is extremely unlikely at this point, given how the organizers talk about it.

And: just because you haven't looked doesn't mean there's nothing to see. Here's Team Hakuto's finished rover, and Moon Express had a flying lander prototype over two years ago. I'm sure you can find more if you actually try.

[PakledHostage]

11 hours ago, Streetwind said:

I'm sure you can find more if you actually try.

There is also the "Moonshot" series available for free on Google Play. Each episode features a different team. Some of them are certainly more flakey than others, but there are enough that appear to be serious.

[Andiron]

I'm really glad this challenge is coming to an end, hopefully with a positive result. Obviously, we should support Synergy Moon, because of their heavily KSP-ish rocket, http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/neptune.htm

[SuperFastJellyfish]

Quote

The Neptune-36 (formerly Neptune-1000) is a four stage (parallel staged), medium-lift launch vehicle capable of placing a 1000 kg payload into polar low-earth orbit or accelerating a 190 kg payload to Earth-escape velocity. The rocket is composed of 33 Common Propulsion Modules. The engine count breaks down to 24 booster engines, 6 stage two engines, 2 stage three engines, and 1 stage four engine.

Neptune-36 is fantastic! 

[magnemoe]

On 25.1.2017 at 6:08 PM, Streetwind said:

That's a given, of course. Though another extension is extremely unlikely at this point, given how the organizers talk about it.

And: just because you haven't looked doesn't mean there's nothing to see. Here's Team Hakuto's finished rover, and Moon Express had a flying lander prototype over two years ago. I'm sure you can find more if you actually try.

https://youtu.be/QAMPD65dvIY?t=71
Is this done in KSP? the seams looks worse so I guess its some 3D program. 

 

[Deddly]

9 hours ago, magnemoe said:

https://youtu.be/QAMPD65dvIY?t=71
Is this done in KSP? the seams looks worse so I guess its some 3D program. 

 

You are presumably talking about the short 3D rendered clips from the moon. (since most of the video is real footage of testing on a tether) They don't look like KSP to me.

[KAL 9000]

What happens if a rocket has a launch failure or something and blows up? It's not the team's fault, so they should get another chance.

[Streetwind]

@KAL 9000 That's up to each team, IIRC. For example, Moon Express has booked options for up to three Electron launches. Synergy Moon, I have no idea, but their launch system is very small too, so they might be able to afford it. On the other hand, getting another Falcon 9 slot, or another whole PSLV-XL, that's probably out of the question for the other teams. Regardless of whether or not they would have backup landers/rovers to fly.

Pretty sure that if at least one team launches in 2017, the deadline will not be pushed back anymore, even if all others crash and burn. I mean, the X-Prize foundation currently says that it won't be extended again even if nobody launches.