New Delhi:
The lone Indian moon-landing contestant TeamIndus and its four global competitors get a three-month annexe from competition organizers — Google and X Prize — to complete their space feat.
The moon race organisers in an official statement released on August 16 have announced that competitors will get three months extra time for accomplishing their $30 million race to the moon.
The Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) competition has extended the date of landing on moon from 2017 end to 31 March 2018.
“The launch date is not a factor anymore. The teams will have to complete their missions by March 31, 2018,” read a GLXP statement.
Earlier, the GLXP had announced $20 million to the team who manages to soft-land their spacecraft on the moon, move at least 500 meters and transmits high-definition photos and video back to Earth.
With the announcement of new dates the race organisers have have made set new rules and have hiked prize money.
Now, the GKXP have added $4.75 million. Contestants landing on moon or completing at least one lunar orbit will receive $1.75 million and $3 million for proof of a soft lunar landing.
"X Prize and Google are thrilled to offer these additional in-space milestone prizes as a further incentive for finalist teams," GLXP Senior Director Chanda Gonzales-Mowrer said in a statement.
The teams running in the space race our International collaboration team Synergy Moon, Florida-based Moon Express, Israel’s SpaceIL, Hakuto from Japan and India-based TeamIndus.
The Bengaluru-based team had recently announced that it was readying a spacecraft version for qualification test with ISRO.
The Indian team has hired ISRO’s PSLV rocket to send its spacecraft, ECA, to moon in December.
