GLXP Team Summit – Pioneers of the Moon meet in Budapest

  • Márton Albert
  • -   14 May 2014
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Teams participating in of one the world’s foremost technological challenge, the 30 million dollar Google Lunar XPRIZE race to the Moon, will hold their annual meeting in Budapest next month. The Google Lunar XPRIZE Team Summit will last from 4th to 6th of June 2014 and will be hosted by the Hungarian entry of the race, Puli Space Technologies, and sponsored by Design Terminál.

The goal of the Google Lunar XPRIZE is to land a robotic vehicle on the surface of the Moon, explore 500 meters and send back a “Mooncast” of high definition imagery and video, before the end of 2015. The first team who reaches the Moon and completes the challenge with a craft built from at least 90% private funding may claim the 20 million dollar Grand Prize.

The initial number of 29 contenders has narrowed down to 18 teams still in the race, including the Hungarian Puli Space Technologies. The young engineers of Team Puli successfully tested their rover prototypes in Morocco and Hawaii last year and are still aiming for the Grand Prize. Representatives of the teams will arrive from more than a dozen countries to the meeting. Most teams are based either in the United States or Europe but the competition extends to South America and Asia as well. The goal of the Team Summit is to provide an opportunity of the remaining teams to share their experiences and plans for the rest of the race.

“We are very proud that Puli will be able to bring one of the most interesting competitions of the world to Hungary; Budapest and the country will host yet another prominent event with the help and support of the team of Design Terminál.”

– emphasized Tibor Pacher, team leader of Puli.

The Google Lunar XPRIZE Team Summit 2014, Budapest will kick off with a press conference on 2014 June 3rd, 11:00 am, at Design Terminál. Media representatives are cordially invited to attend. For free registration, please email marton.albert at pulispace dot com. The press conference will be streamed live over the Internet; details of how to access the live stream will be given on www.pulispace.com closer to the time. Interviews with representatives of the teams competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE can be scheduled after the press conference or during the Summit by contacting anita.heward at xprize dot org.

Alongside the Team Summit there will be a series of public events, including the “Google Lunar XPRIZE Rover Show” at Design Terminál on June 4th and 5th, which will showcase both the Google Lunar XPRIZE and the competing teams. The Utazó (Traveling) Planetárium will premiere the spectacular, full-dome documentary “Back To The Moon For Good" at Akvárium. The show, which tells the story of exploration of the Moon and introduces the Google Lunar XPRIZE, is narrated by the Hungarian actor Oszkár Gáti.

To illustrate the interrelation of modern technologies, Design Terminál will host the Budapest 3D Printing Days event with the prominent members of the 3D-printing industry form Hungary and the surrounding countries in parallel with the Team Summit, between the 5th and 7th of June. The main goal is to demonstrate the various uses of 3D printing from industrial to commercial and household applications, and to provide a platform to introduce the newest innovations in the field.

The Google Lunar XPRIZE Team Summit 2014 will be concluded by “TEDxBudapest Future 2.0” event on June 6th at Akvárium, organized by hvg.hu, where the prominent players of futurology, 3D printing and the new Moon race will share their personal experiences and challenges.