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Commercialization

Everyone Wins at Google Lunar X Prize

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
January 26, 2015
Filed under
Everyone Wins at Google Lunar X Prize

Google Lunar XPrize Makes $5.25 Million in Awards, Google Lunar XPrize
“The deadline for the Google Lunar XPRIZE was officially extended until December 31, 2016. As part of this revised timeline, at least one team must provide documentation of a scheduled launch by December 31, 2015 for all teams to move forward in the competition.”
Join us for an exclusive live chat with Google Lunar XPrize teams!, CNet
“These five Milestone teams, with representatives from all over the world, will be gathered in San Francisco on Monday, January 26, for a glitzy awards ceremony.”
Keith’s note: 5 teams were competing for these milestone prizes. The same 5 teams won these milestone prizes. Has there ever actually been any real competition?

Team Indus wins competition to land robot on moon, bags Google Lunar Xprize of $1 million, The Economic Times
“Bengaluru headquartered space startup Team Indus has won a $1 million prize for completing an intermediate milestone as it competed with teams from across the world to become the first private enterprise which will land a robot on the moon.”

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5 responses to “Everyone Wins at Google Lunar X Prize”

  1. KeCo says:
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    I don’t think that’s accurate – there are still 18 teams active in the competition.

    • kcowing says:
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      But they picked 5 finalists to compete for these prizes and all 5 finalists won.

      • Michael Kaplan says:
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        I believe that each team was competing against criteria, not amongst themselves for the Terrestrial Milestone Prizes. So if all 5 won, then all 5 met all of the criteria.

  2. Yale S says:
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    I see it as both a competition and as a funding mechanism.
    Since the goal is to make it happen, then assisting the more promising projects with interim money make sense, and then rewarding the pick of the litter at the end with the big prize.

  3. Michael Spencer says:
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    Come ON, Keith! Personally I was delighted by the news–and greatful that some of the Google largess goes towards something other than personal 767s (or whatever the hell they are flying out of Moffitt). Yales is right. Flexibility by Google makes a lot of sense.