XPRIZE terminates Google Lunar XPRIZE program

Peter H. Diamandis, founder and executive chairman of XPRIZE, and Marcus Shingles, CEO of XPRIZE, announced on Jan. 23 that the Google Lunar XPRIZE program has been terminated.

In a statement, Diamandis and Shingles said, “After close consultation with our five finalist Google Lunar XPRIZE teams over the past several months, we have concluded that no team will make a launch attempt to reach the Moon by the March 31, 2018 deadline. This literal ‘moonshot’ is hard, and while we did expect a winner by now, due to the difficulties of fundraising, technical and regulatory challenges, the grand prize of the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE will go unclaimed. We are extraordinarily grateful to Google for enabling this 10-year journey with us and for having the foresight and courage to support and catalyze the commercial space industry, which was the ultimate goal of this competition. As a result of this competition, we have sparked the conversation and changed expectations with regard to who can land on the Moon. Many now believe it’s no longer the sole purview of a few government agencies, but now may be achieved by small teams of entrepreneurs, engineers, and innovators from around the world. We are thankful to the teams for their decade of hard work, and acknowledge that a number of our teams are now, finally building flight-ready hardware, contracting with launch providers and are close to being able to make their attempt to land on the Moon.”

XPRIZE says it is exploring a number of ways to proceed. This may include finding a new title sponsor to provide a prize purse following in the footsteps of Google’s generosity, or continuing the Lunar XPRIZE as a non-cash competition where we it follow and promote the teams and help celebrate their achievements.

XPRIZE notes that over the course of the competition:

1. Teams and the companies that own the teams have raised more than $300 million through corporate sponsorships, government contracts and venture capital, including the largest space-related series A investment of $90 million
2. Hundreds of jobs were created and the first commercial space companies were established in India, Malaysia, Israel and Hungary
3. Through educational programs, we have engaged hundreds of thousands of young people across the globe, sparking an interest in exploration and STEM fields;
4. XPRIZE has seen regulatory reform: One team received the first-ever Mission Approval from the U.S. government to send a private spacecraft beyond Earth’s orbit and to the Moon in their quest to complete their first lunar mission
5. XPRIZE has awarded more than $6 million in prize money to teams over the course of the competition, in recognition of the milestones they have accomplished
6. XPRIZE has secured global media exposure for its teams, including a recent 32-page feature in National Geographic, a segment on The Today Show, and a nine-part web series, Moon Shot, executive produced by J.J. Abrams, inspiring millions of people around the world with the story of the Google Lunar XPRIZE.

In conclusion, said Diamandis and Shingles, “It’s incredibly difficult to land on the Moon. If every XPRIZE competition we launch has a winner, we are not being audacious enough, and we will continue to launch competitions that are literal or figurative moonshots, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. We are inspired by the progress of the Google Lunar XPRIZE teams, and will continue to support their journey, one way or another, and will be there to help shine the spotlight on them when they achieve that momentous goal.”