Five Teams Left, Google’s $20M Prize For Reaching The Moon Is Within Reach

In the 60s, man first walked on the moon and made history. Since then, humanity has made no effort to go back, and this is something that Google is not okay with. As such, it is offering a $20 million prize to the team that can successfully send a spacecraft to the Moon’s surface, where a robot will be the main method of exploration.

Google first launched the Lunar XPRIZE contest back in 2007 in order to entice skilled people to create a way to reach the Moon without necessarily relying on the government for help, Futurism reports. At the time, 33 teams signed up to join the competition, but that number was whittled down to 16 as of 2016.

Now, only 5 teams remain and they have until the 31st of December to send a machine to the Moon. The machine will take pictures and send data over to Earth while traversing at least 500 meters of the natural satellite’s surface. The first team to successfully do this will take home the $20 million prize money.

Speaking to BBC, Chanda Gonzales-Mowrer, the senior director of XPRIZE noted how the remaining teams have shown great determination in order to make it this far. Their accomplishments also showed the world that there is no need to be a major superpower in order to achieve great things. With enough conviction, reaching the Moon becomes possible.

“Each of these teams has pushed the boundaries to demonstrate that you don’t have to be a government superpower to send a mission to the Moon while inspiring audiences to pursue the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics,” Gonzales-Mowrer said.

Aside from proving that getting a robot to the Moon is possible without government help, the project is also intended to inspire the next generation of scientists to dream again. During a time when science and progress seem to encounter increasing challenges from government leaders, providing reasons to get into STEM fields is more important than ever.