In an unprecedented tie-up between two private space novices which are both competing to land on Moon, TeamIndus of Bengaluru has said its spacecraft will also carry a Japanese contestant's rover along with its own.

TeamIndus and Hakuto, the team of Japanaese startup ispace Inc., have signed a "rideshare" agreement. While Team Indus's spacecraft will be launched on ISRO's PSLV rocket on December 28, 2017, Hakuto's four-kg robotic rover will be carried on Team Indus's 600-kg spacecraft.

TeamIndus on Wednesday said it has signed "a commercial agreement to carry a robotic rover developed by Hakuto, the Japanese team in the Google Lunar XPRIZE, to Moon aboard TeamIndus’s spacecraft in late 2017." "This is a first of kind collaboration of two private space enterprises competing in the [$30-million] Google Lunar XPRIZE."

Rahul Narayan, Fleet Commander of TeamIndus, said the two teams would start working together in the next few months.

In reply to this daily, he and Sridhar Ramasubban, Team Indus Jedi Master - International Sales, later said the two teams were in discussions for many months; the contract was signed in late November in Bengaluru after TeamIndus sealed its own launch contract with ISRO arm Antrix Corporation.

Comparing with NASA’s twin Mars rovers Spirit & Opportunity that were sent in 2003, Mr. Narayan said their own partnership is unique as the rovers are being built in two countries; "Post landing, they will, sort of, be `racing` each other [and] should make for great STEM-Space outreach." (STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and maths.)

Mr. Ramasubban said, "The tie-up with Hakuto helps only to a small extent with TeamIndus’s launch costs. We see this more as collaborative than competitive, and expect this to make for great viewership."

The GLXP announced in 2007 encourages private-funded entities to land on Moon and rove on its surface for at least half a kilometre. All the teams must launch their spacecraft by December 31, 2017.

TeamIndus is the sole Indian entry. The travel to Moon will last a few days, after which it plans to land its spacecraft on the lunar surface Republic Day, Janaury 26, 2018.

Last year, it won the $ 1-million milestone prize for proving its landing technology; and Hakuto (meaning white rabbit) won the $ 500,000 milestone for its robotic rover.

From among the original 30-odd candidates, GLXP has said it now has five confirmed teams in the race. The other three are SpaceIL of Israel; Moon Express of USA; and the 15-nation Synergy Moon.

Mr. Ramasubban said, "TeamIndus can carry up to 20 kg of payload of which the Japanese rover is 4 kg. In addition we are carrying international university payloads and student experiments under our Lab2Moon initiative.”