By Rudra Narayan Sahoo, Bengaluru: TeamIndus, an Indian aerospace startup and one of the front-runners for the Google Lunar XPRIZE, yesterday (26 August 2016) announced an international jury for Lab2Moon, a competition to challenge the brightest young minds globally to think beyond our planet and create an experiment to fly on board the TeamIndus spacecraft to the Moon in 2017.
Lab2Moon is a global challenge for youngsters below the age of 25 years, who have to imagine, design and build a project that would catalyze the evolution of mankind as a multi-planetary species. Lab2Moon will look for experiments in sustainable living that will have benefits both on Earth and beyond. In the competition, teams of up to three members can participate and will share their ideas in the form of a concept note and video. As a part of the contest, 20 shortlisted teams will build prototypes and will be flown to Bangalore to showcase to the jury. TeamIndus informed that the winning project will be declared on 14 February, 2017.
In a statement TeamIndus said that the international jury of experts will include Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Former Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation, Dr. Alain Bensoussan, Former President of CNES (French Space Agency) and Former Chairman of Council, ESA (European Space Agency) and Dr. Joe Pelton, Former Dean of the International Space University (ISU).
Rahul Narayan, CEO of TeamIndus, said, “It is an honour to announce such eminent names to our jury. It will be especially exciting for youngsters who will showcase their projects to this jury and interact with them.”
Keeping in mind the global academic schedule, TeamIndus has also extended the last date for registering on L2M.teamindus.in till the 10 September 2016. Over 200 teams have already signed up including teams from Germany, Italy, Peru, Mexico, Singapore, India and other countries.
Selection Procedure: Phase 1 of the competition will accept submissions till the September 10, 2016 from which 20 teams will be shortlisted. These shortlisted teams will enter Phase 2 during which they will build prototypes. Their progress will undergo reviews and will be monitored to ensure the project is on track. For the Finals, teams will be invited to our Bangalore campus where they will present their experiment to the eminent jury. The winning project will fly to the Moon with TeamIndus’ spacecraft.
TeamIndus is India’s only entry into the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a competition for privately funded teams to successfully place a robot on the moon’s surface that explores at least 500 meters and transmits high-definition media back to Earth. For demonstrating its landing technology, TeamIndus has won a $1 million milestone prize. TeamIndus is now building a privately funded Spacecraft capable of soft landing on the Moon by December 2017. There are over 85 engineers including 15 former ISRO scientists who are helping TeamIndus design and develop its proprietary technology from its headquarters in Bangalore.
