Google Lunar XPrize of $30 Million to be Decided By a Race on the Moon

For those who don't know about the Google Lunar XPrize, it is a $30 million competition to challenge and inspire engineers and entrepreneurs from around the world to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration.

To win the Google Lunar XPrize, a privately funded team must successfully place a robot on the moon's surface that explores at least 500 meters and transmits high-definition video and images back to Earth.

Interestingly, two of the teams competing in the Google Lunar XPrize have agreed to share a ride to the moon. At the end awaits a race, albeit in slow motion, on the moon's surface as each competitor's lunar rovers take on one other in this, truly, out of the world race.

The two aforementioned competitors are Hakuto - the Japanese team, that won a milestone prize recently in the mobility category (for its moon rover), and Astrobotic - who is leading the pack.

Furthermore, there is also an Indian team in the list of participants -Team Indus. They are also among the leaders to land a private craft on the moon by December 31, 2016. However, with these two teams joining forces, Team Indus has a Himalayan task ahead of it.

Astrobotic will launch its craft on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, US, in the second half of 2016. Riding along will be Hakuto's two rovers, Moonraker and Tetris. Upon their arrival, Hakuto and Astrobotic's rovers will have to travel a distance of 500 metres on the moon's surface, and send HD images and video back to Earth. So even if one of the bot fails, the joint team would still qualify for the $30-million prize.

John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic Technology, said, "We envision a 'Nascar on the Moon' scenario, where competing teams land together, and countries can cheer on their team to the finish line. Hakuto is the first team signed to fulfill our dream of the first race beyond Earth's orbit."