An Indian engineer's ambition to conquer the Moon

Engineer Narayan and his TeamIndus team are raising capital to build a spacecraft to land on the Moon in order to win the grand prize of Google.

Six years ago, IT engineer Rahul Narayan made a bold decision to form an Indian team to participate in the Lunar XPrize competition hosted by Google with the aim of bringing the probe up. Moon.

Three years later, his TeamIndus became the only Indian team to make it to the last 4 teams in the competition. If successful, Narayan and TeamIndus company he founded will be the first private unit to land on the Moon, Guardian on March 20 reported.

This is a very fierce competition, because the other three teams are also trying to win Google's $ 20 million prize. TeamIndus will have to face MoonExpress, the company of e-commerce billionaire Naveen Jain, SpaceIL, founded by three Israeli engineers and the Synergy Moon international group. All planned to launch a spacecraft in December this year.

Narayan in a presentation about the project landing on the Moon.(Photo: Guardian).

Under the plan, TeamIndus' spacecraft will be launched to the Moon by Indian government missiles at the launch of Chennai at 10.3 km / sec.

After landing at the Mare Imbrium plateau on the Moon, the spacecraft will release the Sea of ​​Showers exploration vehicle built by a Japanese group to explore the planet's surface. This solar-powered, 4-wheel-drive aluminum carriage sends high-resolution beams back to Earth while making a 500m journey.

If done successfully and at the earliest steps, TeamIndus will win the Xprize award. However, TeamIndus has so far only raised $ 16 million out of a total of $ 70 million that the company needs to build spacecraft. They hope personal investments, as well as semi-tonnage on spacecraft and community fundraising, will offset the rest.

TeamIndus plans to start a satellite program or develop unmanned aerial vehicles that use solar energy after completing the mission to land on the Moon. Narayan's real ambition is to prove the impossible cannot become a reality.

Many people see TeamIndus as the weak in the race to the Moon when they have to compete with teams with huge resources. However, Narayan is not discouraged, because participating in the race and winning will help India take a new position on the world aerospace industry map.