ISRO-TeamIndus contract terminated: End of India's private Moonshot mission

[Sarkar]

ISRO's decision to pull out of mission
The Ken quoted a source as saying: "ISRO has cancelled the contract for a lack of compliances and payment issues, Rahul [Narayan, co-founder TeamIndus] has spoken to all on the floor recently and informed all of ISRO's decision of pulling out of the mission".

What exactly is the Google Lunar XPRIZE?
Google Lunar XPRIZE space competition offers $20mn to the winner and $5mn each for the runner-up and bonus winner.

Out of 33 teams, only five now remain in the competition: India's TeamIndus, Japan's Hakuto, Israel's SpaceIL, the US's Moon Express, and Synergy Moon (international team).

Teams need to land a rover on Moon, travel 500m, and transmit those images to Earth by 31 Mar'18.

GLXP is all about smart technology but most importantly, money
For GLXP, teams should land a privately-funded Moon rover which requires a lot of money.

TeamIndus's mission budget was $70mn; ISRO's PSLV chartered launch itself costs $20mn.

Building and testing the rover cost many more millions. The start-up raised only $35mn. Also, teams can't raise more than 10% funds from governments or space-exploration agencies.

ISRO sources reportedly said TeamIndus couldn't gather required funds.

ISRO-TeamIndus contract terminated: End of India's private Moonshot mission?

 

[Sarkar]

An Important Update From Google Lunar XPRIZE

“After close consultation with our five finalist Google Lunar XPRIZE teams over the past several months, we have concluded that no team will make a launch attempt to reach the Moon by the March 31st, 2018 deadline. This literal “moonshot” is hard, and 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.

In conclusion, it’s incredibly difficult to land on the Moon. If every XPRIZE competition we launch has a winner, we are not being audacious enough, and we will continue to launch competitions that are literal or figurative moonshots, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. 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.”