Lunar X PRIZE

​After a decade Google’s Lunar XPrize is set to end with no winner. An announcement from Google recently suggested the March 31st deadline would not be extended and a subsequent update from the XPrize team confirmed that no team will launch in time and the $30 million prize will remain unclaimed

​The deadline for the Google Lunar XPrize has again been pushed back, this time to March 31, 2018. After over 10 years and multiple deadline extensions, it is hoped that this is the final delay for what has been an ambitious competition to get the first privately funded spacecraft onto the Moon.

​The private race to the moon just kicked up a notch with Moon Express revealing in detail its plan to begin commercially harvesting moon rocks by 2020. The company is set to become the first commercial presence on the moon sending back lunar samples & establishing a permanent lunar outpost.

An Israeli team has become the first to produce a "verified launch contract" as part of the Google Lunar XPRIZE. To win the competition, privately funded teams must land an exploratory robot on the moon by Dec. 31, 2017. SpaceIL's would become the first private mission to the moon.

Space startup Moon Express has signed a contract with Rocket Lab to help carry out three lunar missions starting in 2017. The agreement will see Rocket Lab provide launch services using its Electron rocket system.

Two of the teams competing for the prestigious Google Lunar XPRIZE have announced a partnership, bringing them one step closer to landing on the moon. The HAKUTO team’s rover will hitch a ride on the Astrobotic Griffin lander when it sets off in the second half of 2016.

Back in December, we learned that the final deadline for the Lunar XPrize had been pushed back to 2016. We also heard that up to US$6 million in funding would be awarded to the most promising teams. The results are now in and the front runners are beginning to emerge.

Teams competing for the Google Lunar XPrize have been given some significant leeway to develop their projects, with the final deadline now pushed back to 2016.

Carnegie Mellon University has announced the debut of Andy, a four-wheeled unmanned rover designed to explore the rough terrain and recently discovered pits of the Moon. The solar powered robot is CMU's entry for the US$20 million-plus Google Lunar XPrize.

The Google Lunar XPrize is set to wrap up with the first privately-funded spacecraft to land and explore the surface of the moon by the end of 2015. Five teams from around the world still have technology in the running to make the trip.

Moon Express has revealed the design of its MX-1 entry for the Google Lunar X Prize competition. Not a one-trick pony, the MX-1 is intended as the first of a series of robotic spacecraft that can carry out a multitude of tasks in Earth orbit as well as in deep space.

The International Lunar Observatory Association is going to send a tested telescope on Moon Express's Google Lunar X Prize entry.