Organizers of an international lunar probe contest say the competition is likely to end in March without a winner, as none of the participating teams will be able to meet the deadline.
The Google Lunar Xprize contest is the first private sector lunar mission, launched in 2007 by the foundation composed of US tech giant Google and other companies. The prize of 20 million dollars would go to a team if its rover travels on the Moon's surface first by March 31st and sends videos and photos back to Earth.
In a statement on Tuesday, founder and executive chairman Peter Diamandis and chief executive officer Marcus Shingles said they have concluded that no team will make a launch attempt to reach the Moon by the March 31st deadline.
Five teams from countries including Japan, the United States and Israel are taking part. The Japanese team, called Hakuto, includes members of space-industry startups and university researchers.
Diamandis and Shingles said in the statement that as a result of the competition, many now believe that landing on the Moon may be achieved by small teams of entrepreneurs, engineers and innovators from around the world, not just a few government agencies.
They said it's incredibly difficult to land on the Moon. They said they are disappointed to have no winner this time, but that they are proud of the impact that the Google Lunar Xprize has achieved so far.
They noted that hundreds of jobs were created. India, Malaysia, Israel and Hungary saw the establishment of space-related companies for the first time.
The organizers also said they are inspired by the progress of the Google Lunar Xprize teams and will continue to support their journey.
