TeamIndus, a Bengaluru-based space technology company, is all set to launch its spacecraft that will land on Moon as part of its bid to win the Google Lunar XPRIZE. Indian space agency ISRO will lift the TeamIndus spacecraft on December 28, 2017, reports said today.
Google Lunar XPRIZE organised a competition that calls privately funded spaceflight teams to be the first to land their robotic spacecraft on the Moon, travel 500 meters, and transmit back high-definition video and images.
The winner will get reward of about USD 20 million.
This mission will cost around USD 60 million. So far, TeamIndus has raised USD 15 million and they aim to raise remaining funds by September-October next year.
“The total expense of the project is about USD 60 million and we have raised USD 15 million so far. We will have to raise the remaining amount by September-October next year,” TeamIndus co-founder and Director Julius Amrit said.
Well known personalities like Ratan Tata; Sachin and Binny Bansal, co-founders of Flipkart and Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys Ltd, among others have invested in the project.
According to Economics Times report, 20 retired ISRO scientists have been guiding Team Indus to generate maximum benefits with the minimum of time and investments.
Earlier, The Google X Prize had extended the deadline for the challenge as teams found it hard going. Now, the deadline is December 31, 2017.
Google’s Lunar XPRIZE was started back in 2007 with a goal to involve private organisations in space missions and revisit landing site of Apollo 17.
