The Google Lunar XPRIZE is history – and good riddance. Israel never needed Google's money anyway.
After months and years of false starts, the international contest to award millions of dollars in prize money to the first private entity to land a spaceship on the Moon finally ended with no winner earlier this year. In January, nonprofit organization XPRIZE confirmed that Google was pulling its support from the project, and will no longer pony up the expected $30 million grand prize – even if one of the five finalists does eventually succeed in getting to the Moon.
No matter. One of the five original contestants, Israeli space start-up SpaceIL, has decided to forge ahead and try to land on the Moon with or without Google's support. With help from fellow Israeli company Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which will both assemble and test the spacecraft, SpaceIL announced last week that it's on schedule to launch a small spaceship (roughly 5 feet tall, 6 feet in diameter, and saucer-shaped, as shown above) on a course for the Moon by December 2018.
One quirk: Unlike America's Apollo Moon landings, which were powered by massive Saturn V rockets, this one's going to take a bit longer to arrive at its destination. After launching from Cape Canaveral in December, SpaceIL is targeting a moon landing by Feb. 13, 2019. So from Earth orbit to Moon landing, we're looking at a two-month trip.
more here:
fool.com
