Engineering news
The 10-year Lunar XPrize aimed to reach the Earth’s natural satellite before 31st March 2018, but after consulting with five finalists, foundation bosses concluded none would make a launch attempt in time.
“While we did expect a winner by now, due to the difficulties of fundraising, technical and regulatory challenges, the grand prize of the $30M Google Lunar XPrize will go unclaimed,” wrote founder Peter H. Diamandis and CEO Marcus Shingles online.
“It’s incredibly difficult to land on the Moon,” they added. “If every XPRIZE competition we launch has a winner, we are not being audacious enough… we are inspired by the progress of the Google Lunar XPrize teams, and will continue to support their journey, one way or another, and will be there to help shine the spotlight on them when they achieve that momentous goal.”
Teams and companies raised $300m in their attempts, creating hundreds of jobs and establishing the first commercial space companies in India, Malaysia, Israel and Hungary. STEM outreach programmes also ran alongside the competition, which awarded more than $6m in prize money for passing previous milestones. Despite failing to launch, one team successfully received the first ever mission approval from the US government to send a private spacecraft beyond Earth’s orbit to the Moon.
The competition aimed to change expectations about who can land on the Moon. “Many now believe it’s no longer the sole purview of a few government agencies, but now may be achieved by small teams of entrepreneurs, engineers, and innovators from around the world,” said Diamandis and Shingles.
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.