To win the grand prize of the Google Lunar Xprize ($20 million), private teams (with no more than 10% in government funding) must:
* Land a robot safely on the Moon
* Move 500 meters on, above, or below the Moon’s surface; and
* Send back HDTV Mooncasts for everyone to enjoy
….And this must all be completed before the December 31st, 2015 deadline! There are other prizes, too, for missions like surviving the lunar night and visiting an Apollo site.
XPRIZE and Google have incorporated Milestone Prizes into the Google Lunar XPRIZE in order to reward teams who achieve key milestones on their way to ready their subsystems for launch.
The Milestone Prizes, totalling US$6 million, are for demonstrating (via actual testing and analysis) robust hardware and software to overcome key technical risks in the areas of imaging, mobility and lander systems — all three being necessary to achieve a successful Google Lunar XPRIZE mission. Milestone Prizes are available in each of those three categories and the prize value and maximum number of winning teams for each are summarized below.
There are still 16 active teams. There are five leading teams who are finalists for at least one of the milestone prizes.
Astrobotic and Moon Express would be considered the leaders are they are finalists in all three milestone prizes. Astrobotic also has booked a rocket launch on a Spacex Falcon 9 for October 2015. They are the primary payload and have sold secondary payload space to defray costs. If Astrobotic and Moon Express succeed they plan to perform lunar missions for NASA and other space agencies.
In April 2011, Astrobotic received a $599,000 two-year contract to develop a scalable gravity offload device for testing rover mobility in simulated lunar gravity under NASA's Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR).
On April 30, 2014 NASA announced that Astrobotic Technologies was one of the three companies selected for the Lunar CATALYST initiative. NASA is negotiating a 3 year no-funds-exchanged Space Act Agreement (SAA). The Griffin Lander may be involved
Astrobotic plans on further robotic missions to the moon and Mars.
![]()
Astrobotic Griffin Lander
Moon Express is working with Autodesk Moon Express will send a series of robotic spacecraft to the Moon for ongoing exploration and commercial development. The opportunity is simply driven by advances in technology. What used to require the unlimited budgets of a superpower, are now within reach of private enterprise.
On June 30, 2011, the company held its first successful test flight of a prototype lunar lander system called the Lander Test Vehicle (LTV) that was developed in partnership with NASA.
In mid-2012, Moon Express announced that it will work with International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) to put a shoebox-sized astronomical telescope on the Moon. Additional details were released in July 2013, including that there would be two telescopes: a 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) radio telescope as well as an optical telescope. The preferred location is 5 kilometers (3.1 mi)-high Malapert crater, with current plans to land the mission no earlier than 2018.
As of November 2012, MoonEx has 20 employees, plans to stage a public demonstration in the fall of 2013, and has announced that they will be ready to land on the Moon by early 2015.
In December 2013, MoonEx unveiled the MX-1 lunar lander, a toroidal robotic lander that uses high-test hydrogen peroxide as its rocket propellant to support vertical landing on the Lunar surface.
On April 30, 2014 NASA announced that Moon Express Inc. was one of the three companies selected for the Lunar CATALYST initiative. NASA is negotiating a 3 year no-funds-exchanged Space Act Agreement (SAA)
![]()
Moon Express MX-1 Lunar Lander
![]()
Read more »![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
* Land a robot safely on the Moon
* Move 500 meters on, above, or below the Moon’s surface; and
* Send back HDTV Mooncasts for everyone to enjoy
….And this must all be completed before the December 31st, 2015 deadline! There are other prizes, too, for missions like surviving the lunar night and visiting an Apollo site.
XPRIZE and Google have incorporated Milestone Prizes into the Google Lunar XPRIZE in order to reward teams who achieve key milestones on their way to ready their subsystems for launch.
The Milestone Prizes, totalling US$6 million, are for demonstrating (via actual testing and analysis) robust hardware and software to overcome key technical risks in the areas of imaging, mobility and lander systems — all three being necessary to achieve a successful Google Lunar XPRIZE mission. Milestone Prizes are available in each of those three categories and the prize value and maximum number of winning teams for each are summarized below.
There are still 16 active teams. There are five leading teams who are finalists for at least one of the milestone prizes.
Astrobotic and Moon Express would be considered the leaders are they are finalists in all three milestone prizes. Astrobotic also has booked a rocket launch on a Spacex Falcon 9 for October 2015. They are the primary payload and have sold secondary payload space to defray costs. If Astrobotic and Moon Express succeed they plan to perform lunar missions for NASA and other space agencies.
In April 2011, Astrobotic received a $599,000 two-year contract to develop a scalable gravity offload device for testing rover mobility in simulated lunar gravity under NASA's Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR).
On April 30, 2014 NASA announced that Astrobotic Technologies was one of the three companies selected for the Lunar CATALYST initiative. NASA is negotiating a 3 year no-funds-exchanged Space Act Agreement (SAA). The Griffin Lander may be involved
Astrobotic plans on further robotic missions to the moon and Mars.
Moon Express is working with Autodesk Moon Express will send a series of robotic spacecraft to the Moon for ongoing exploration and commercial development. The opportunity is simply driven by advances in technology. What used to require the unlimited budgets of a superpower, are now within reach of private enterprise.
On June 30, 2011, the company held its first successful test flight of a prototype lunar lander system called the Lander Test Vehicle (LTV) that was developed in partnership with NASA.
In mid-2012, Moon Express announced that it will work with International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) to put a shoebox-sized astronomical telescope on the Moon. Additional details were released in July 2013, including that there would be two telescopes: a 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) radio telescope as well as an optical telescope. The preferred location is 5 kilometers (3.1 mi)-high Malapert crater, with current plans to land the mission no earlier than 2018.
As of November 2012, MoonEx has 20 employees, plans to stage a public demonstration in the fall of 2013, and has announced that they will be ready to land on the Moon by early 2015.
In December 2013, MoonEx unveiled the MX-1 lunar lander, a toroidal robotic lander that uses high-test hydrogen peroxide as its rocket propellant to support vertical landing on the Lunar surface.
On April 30, 2014 NASA announced that Moon Express Inc. was one of the three companies selected for the Lunar CATALYST initiative. NASA is negotiating a 3 year no-funds-exchanged Space Act Agreement (SAA)
Read more »
