India Among The Top Contenders For The Google Lunar Xprize


India Among The Top Contenders For The Google Lunar Xprize

Bangalore: Reaching for the zenith point where ones hardly get to reach is something which every person desires for. The dream of a group of young Indian professionals called Team Indus to reach the moon might soon be a reality as they are one among the top 5 competitors for the Google Lunar XPrize, reports Sujit John of TNN.

The Google Lunar XPrize is the mega global platform for the budding professionals to land a robotic spacecraft on the Moon by December 2015.

The team, co-founded by IITians Rahul Narayan and Indranil Chakraborty has pooled their knowledge, their passion and their own money to take part in this competition.  The main highlight of the competition is to design a spacecraft that will land on the moon's surface and send back images and data to Earth.

After analyzing 33 total submissions, panel of judges selected U.S. entrants Astrobotic Technology Inc. and Moon Express Inc., Japan’s Hakuto, Germany’s Part-Time Scientists and India’s Team Indus to compete in the final phase of three separate competitions with potential prizes totaling $40 million to be awarded later this year.

Co-founder Indranil Chakraborty said, "Considering that the landing system is the most complicated and carries the highest prize money (of $1 million), it is safe to say that we are now No. 3 in the race," reports TNN.

"There were at least three points in the last two years when we almost gave up. But each time, new doors opened up. We are hoping this time the entire country will chip in and take pride in having a bit of their effort landing on the Moon next year," added Chakraborty.

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