Andy the rover: heading for the moon in the company of Moonraker and Tetris (Image: Carnegie Mellon University)

We may be on for an actual space race. Two competitors for the Google Lunar XPrize say they will buddy up to get their rovers to the moon by the end of next year.

The challenge offers a $20 million grand prize to any team that successfully lands on the moon, travels 500 metres, and sends images back to Earth.

Astrobiotic, a space logistics firm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, announced plans in December to launch the competition’s first mission from Cape Canaveral in time for the deadline at the end of 2016, sending its rover Andy up aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.


Now, Astrobiotic has agreed to let Japanese space company HAKUTO piggyback its rovers, Moonraker and Tetris, on the launch. Both companies have previously netted milestone prizes from the Lunar XPrize team.

Slow progress has seen the official competition deadline pushed back several times. But if the three rovers successfully travel together, it might mean an exciting sprint to the finish on lunar soil – what Astrobiotic CEO John Thornton describes as “NASCAR on the moon”.

Still, landing on the moon is far from the only challenge still to be overcome, says Andrew Barton, director of technical operations for the prize. “The recent mechanical failure of the Chinese Chang’e-3 mission certainly showed that moving 500 metres across the lunar surface is a very difficult task and one that will require a great deal of technical expertise. So once teams do touch down on the moon, it should be an exciting race to claim the grand prize.”