“Five teams have qualified to compete in a $30 million Google-backed competition to land and operate robotic spacecraft on the surface of the moon”, the XPrize Foundation said on Tuesday.

Contenders now have until December 31 for their spacecraft to be launched, said the Foundation, which is running the Google Lunar XPrize and eight other technology stimulus contests.

Before this new deadline announced by the foundation, competitors have to broadcast their high-definition video, by the end of the year. In this video, they have to show the completed activities, in which their vehicles travel 1,640 feet (500 meters). From the announcement of the in 2007, the interest of the people towards the Google Lunar XPrize is very high. Initially for the prize money of $20 million which is around Rs.136 Crores in Indian currency, totally 33 teams signed up. Second place is worth $5 million and bonus money is available for accomplishing extra tasks, such as visiting an Apollo landing site or finding water on the moon.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet has produced a documentary series about Lunar XPrize competition.

"We're thrilled to have five contenders that are working from all over the world on this one mission," XPrize Senior Director Chanda Gonzales-Mowrer said in an email.

The original deadline of the competition is 2012’s year-end, but this deadline is constantly increasing. Finally, the organiser has said that this is the last increment in the deadline.   

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