If in August the Google Lunar XPRIZE cheered the finalists by relaxing the launch date from December 2017 to March 2018, on Thursday it kicked off the first formal evaluation process from India. It isn’t surprising that the GLXP has chosen to start with Bengaluru because two finalists are hitching their ride on an Indian rocket, one of whom has chosen a very public path to this mission. In a 10-step evaluation process, the Indian finalist, TeamIndus, has crossed the first step towards the $30-million prize. It has demonstrated the ‘readiness’ of its spacecraft and payload to the visiting judges.
One Step
One down, nine to go: TeamIndus’ baby step in the giant moonwalk
With six months to go for the $30-million Google Lunar XPRIZE, the judges and TeamIndus have agreed to a 10-step evaluation process. A lot needs to be done before March, including a massive fund raising
Though the teams always knew the mission completion date was 31 March 2018, in August GLXP relaxed the 31 December 2017 launch deadline. This has brought back the Israeli team back in the competition
The nine-member judges' panel will periodically review the teams’ readiness in a 10-step process before greenlighting their respective missions. It kicked off with TeamIndus
TeamIndus has raised half of $68 million required for completing this programme and is in the market to raise more money
Always high on publicity campaigns, TeamIndus now intends to launch a mega ‘participative platform’ for people
