Google has awarded a total of US$5.25 million to five teams in the Google Lunar X-Prize whose goal is to land a private spacecraft on the Moon.

With its Lunar X-Prize, Google wants to get private companies to reach the Moon. The winner of the competition gets to take home US$30 million.

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The Lunar X-Prize will land a robot on the Moon, have it travel at least 500 meters and beam HDTV video of the area back to Earth.

The custom-built robot has to transmit high-definition footage back to Earth. The Lunar X-Prize recognizes achievement in the development of the vehicle that moves across the surface. The imaging prizes went to teams that made advances in camera systems that will be used to beam video and images back to Earth.

United States team Astrobotic took prizes in all three categories, receiving US$1.75 million. Moon Express from the United States took home US$1.25 million with prizes in two categories.

India's Team Indus received a US$1 million prize in the landing category. Team Part-Time Scientists from Germany netted US$750,000 in two categories, while team Hakuto of Japan received US$500,000 in the mobility category.

In addition to the Milestone Prize winners, 13 other teams are in the running for the Google Lunar X-Prize.

In December 2014, Google announced the final deadline for the project will be pushed back to 2016, but the results will undoubtedly be stunning.

TagsGoogle Lunar Xprize, Lunar Xprize, moon mission, Astrobotic, Moon Express, Team Indus, Part-Time Scientists, Hakuto, space exploration