The Google Lunar XPRIZE (GLXP), sometimes referred to as Moon 2.0,
was a 2007–2018 inducement prize
space competition
Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
the Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
, travel 500 meters, and transmit back to Earth high-definition video and images.
The original deadline was the end of 2014, with enhanced prize money for a landing by 2012. In 2015, XPRIZE announced that the competition deadline would be extended to December 2017 if at least one team could secure a verified launch contract by 31 December 2015. Two teams secured such a launch contract, and the deadline was extended. In August 2017, the deadline was extended again, to 31 March 2018.
Entering 2018, five teams remained in the competition: SpaceIL, Moon Express,
Synergy Moon
Synergy Moon is an international commercial enterprise dedicated to the development of space technologies and related services.Chang'e 3
Chang'e 3 (; ) is a robotic lunar exploration mission operated by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), incorporating a robotic lander and China's first lunar rover. It was launched in December 2013 as part of the second phase of t ...
probe—which landed on the Moon in December 2013—approached.
In 2015, XPRIZE announced that the competition deadline would be extended to December 2017 if at least one team could secure a verified launch contract by 31 December 2015. Two teams secured such a launch contract, and the deadline was extended.
XPRIZE announced 5 finalists on 24 January 2017.SpaceIL, Moon Express,
Synergy Moon
Synergy Moon is an international commercial enterprise dedicated to the development of space technologies and related services. In May 2015, the foundation announced another extension of the deadline. The deadline for winning the prize was now December 2017, but contingent on at least one team showing by 31 December 2015 that they have a secured contract for launch. On 9 October 2015, team SpaceIL announced their officially verified launch contract with
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal o ...
, therefore extending the competition until the end of 2017.
On 16 August 2017, the deadline was extended again, to 31 March 2018.
None of the remaining teams were able to claim the Google X-Prize money due to the inability to launch before the final deadline.
Objections to the Heritage Bonus Prizes
Some observers have raised objections to the inclusion of the two "Heritage Bonus Prizes," particularly the Apollo Heritage Bonus Prize, which was to award an additional estimated US$1 million to the first group that successfully delivers images and videos of the landing site of one of the Apollo Program landing sites, such as Tranquility Base, after landing on the lunar surface. Such sites are widely regarded as archaeologically and culturally significant, and some have expressed concern that a team attempting to win this heritage bonus might inadvertently damage or destroy such a site, either during the landing phase of the mission, or by piloting a rover around the site. As a result, some archaeologists went on record calling for the Foundation to cancel the heritage bonus and to ban groups from targeting landing zones within of previous sites."uncomPRESSed: Google Lunar X PRIZE – William Pomerantz" Andreas -horn- Hornig, HDTVTotal.com, 1 August 2010
In turn, the Foundation noted that, as part of the competition's educational goals, these bonuses fostered debate about how to respectfully visit previous lunar landing sites, but that it does not see itself as the appropriate adjudicator of such an internationally relevant and interdisciplinary issue. This response left detractors unsatisfied. The Foundation pointed to the historical precedent set by the
Apollo 12
Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Commander Charles ...
mission, which landed nearby the previous Surveyor 3 robotic probe. Pete Conrad and Alan Bean approached and inspected Surveyor 3 and even removed some parts from it to be returned to Earth for study; new scientific results from that heritage visit, on the exposure of manmade objects to conditions in outer space, were still being published in leading papers nearly four decades later. However, as Surveyor 3 and Apollo 12 were both NASA missions, there was no controversy at the time.
In January 2011, NASA's manager for lunar commercial space noted on Twitter that work was underway to provide insight and guidelines on how lunar heritage sites could be protected while still allowing visitations that could yield critical science. And in July 2011, NASA issued ''Recommendations to Space-Faring Entities: How to Protect and Preserve the Historic and Scientific Value of U.S. Government Lunar Artifacts''. These guidelines were developed with the assistance of Beth O'Leary, an anthropology professor at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, and a recognized leader in the emerging field of space archaeology. However, these are only guidelines and recommendations and are not enforceable beyond the possibility of "moral sanctions." An organization called For All Moonkind, Inc. is now working to develop an international treaty that will include enforceable provisions designed to manage access to the Apollo sites and protect and preserve those sites, as well as others on the Moon, as the common heritage of all humankind.
Nevertheless, some of the Apollo astronauts themselves have expressed support for the bonus, with
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...
Moonwalker
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...
appearing at the Google Lunar XPRIZE's initial announcement and reading a plaque signed by the majority of his fellow surviving Apollo Astronauts.
Prize not won
On 23 January 2018, the X Prize Foundation announced that "no team would be able to make a launch attempt to reach the Moon by the 1 March 2018deadline... and the Google Lunar XPRIZE will go unclaimed."
On 11 April 2019, the foundation awarded a US$1 million award to SpaceIL after its craft Beresheet crashed on the Moon.
Competitors and their status as of end of GLXP competition
Registration in the Google Lunar X Prize closed by 31 December 2010. The complete roster of 32 teams was announced in February 2011. By January 2017, there were just five officially registered Google Lunar X Prize teams continuing to pursue the prize objectives, as other teams had left the competition entirely, failed to achieve a competition interim
milestone
A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...
, or merged with other teams:
Initially 32 teams were registered, with 16 teams having actively participated in all activities and only 5 teams satisfying the rule requiring a verified launch contract by 31 December 2016.
Shortly after the announcement of the complete roster of teams, an X Prize Foundation official noted that a total of thirty one teams entered a partial registration program by filing a "Letter of Intent" to compete; of these, twenty did indeed register or join other registered teams, while eleven ultimately did not register.
Terrestrial Milestone Prizes
Overview
In November 2013 the X-Prize organization announced that several milestone prizes will be awarded to teams for demonstrating key technologies prior to the actual mission. A total of was awarded throughout 2014 for achieving the following milestones:
* $1 million (for up to 3 teams) for the ''Lander System Milestone Prize'' to demonstrate hardware and software that enables a soft-landing on the Moon.
* $500,000 (for up to 4 teams) for the ''Mobility Subsystem Milestone Prize'' to demonstrate a mobility system that allows the craft to move 500 meters after landing.
* $250,000 (for up to 4 teams) for the ''Imaging Subsystem Milestone Prize'' for producing "Mooncasts" consisting of high-quality images and video on the lunar surface.
Selected teams
In February 2014, a judging panel selected five teams which could compete for several interim prizes based on their proposals to achieve particular goals. The teams and their ultimate awards were:
The five selected teams were required to accomplish the milestones outlined in their submissions through testing and mission simulations, in order to be awarded the interim prizes. The teams had until October 2014 to complete the prize requirements. The winners were officially awarded on 26 January 2015 in San Francisco.
Status of teams and developments since the close of the Google Lunar X Prize competition
Teams still in competition at close
Teams were required to have verified launch contracts by the end of 2016 in order to remain in the competition. Although the contest ended without a winner, some of these teams have expressed an intention to launch in the future.
Other teams
Two competitors who were unable to get a verified launch contract by 2016, disqualifying them from the competition, are also still planning to launch their crafts independently.
Commercial Lunar Payload Services
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is a NASA program to contract transportation services able to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon's south polar region mostly with the goals of scouting for lunar resources, testing in sit ...