The Spanish team has selected European Robotics Week to present the robot they will send to the moon in pursuit of winning the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE.

MADRID (​​November28, 2013)–Barcelona Moon Team, the Spanish team registered in the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE, presented today its lander and rover modules during the European Robotics Week.

The Google Lunar XPRIZE, the largest incentivized competition to date, challenges privately funded teams from around the world to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon. Once landing on the moon, the robot must travel 500 meters and transmit high-definition video and images back to Earth. The Google Lunar XPRIZE is one of four active competitions from the XPRIZE Foundation, the leading organization solving the world’s Grand Challenges by creating and managing large-scale, incentivized competitions to bring about technological breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.

Galactic Suite, team leading company, has presented the engineering models of the lander module that will softly land on the lunar surface, and the rover module, which will complete the mission requirements of the Google Lunar XPRIZE.

Mr. Xavier Claramunt, Galactic Suite president and Barcelona Moon Team leader, has been the first lunar rover driver that afterwards was manoeuvred by many of the people attending the event. “These are previous models to study the mechanics and some of the subsystems such as the guidance and control, power and communications” said Claramunt, “after them, the qualification and flight models will be built, tested, and finally will travel to the Moon by mid 2015”.

Barcelona Moon Team presented the models in Madrid, in the industrial complex of Tres Cantos, where take place several events to celebrate the European Robotics Week, with the participation of universities and institutes, which have also shown their creations in the field of mobile robots.

“Robotics is highly appealing to the up-and-coming generation, which includes the budding scientists and leaders of tomorrow’s society” added Claramunt, “and in this sense, Barcelona Moon Team is a source of inspiration for this budding talent, including those who will participate in the future robotic exploration of the Moon and other celestial bodies”.

For the partners of the space industrial consortium, the success of the mission will mean developing qualification of technology andcapabilities in complex missions resulting in a competitive advantage for the future.

About Barcelona Moon Team
The only Spanish-based team to enter the competition and gathers together private companies, universities and technology centers. The team is led by Galactic Suite and Altran, a multinational technological partner. Other members joining the team are, in chronological order, the Aerospace Technology Center (CTAE), based in Barcelona, and the Technical University of Catalonia, contributing with a science experimentto the mission; and the Madrid based companies GMV, specialized in mission analysis, navigation and onboard control systems, and all elements of the ground segment, and technical leader of the mission; EADS CASA Espacio, the leading Spanish prime contractor and responsible of the landing platform; and the National Aerospace Technology Institute (INTA), contributing with systems on the rover and landing platform, as well as operational support with the ground stations of Maspalomas. For more information, go to www.barcelonamoonteam.com

About Galactic Suite
Galactic Suite is a Barcelona based company, created in 2007, creating opportunities around technology and people through ventures related to private space access. The company promotes the Galactic Suite Spaceresort project, the space hotel, and a global concept for space tourism with a chain of value also including Earth based infrastructure, to fulfil the space tourist needs for training, accommodation and leisure. The company registered in the competition in 2010 and leads the Barcelona Moon Team. www.galacticsuite.com

About Google Lunar XPRIZE
The $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE is an unprecedented competition to challenge and inspire engineers and entrepreneurs from around the world to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration. To win the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a privately funded team must successfully place a robot on the Moon’s surface that roams at least 500 meters and transmits high-definition video and images back to Earth. The first team to do so will claim a $20 million Grand Prize, while the second team will earn a $5 million Prize. Teams are also eligible to win a $1 million award for stimulating diversity in the field of space exploration, and as much as $4 million in bonus prizes for accomplishing additional technical tasks such as moving ten times as far, surviving the frigid lunar night, or visiting the site of a previous lunar mission. For more information, visit www.googlelunarxprize.org.