Friday, March 29, 2024
Homefuture opportunitiesMalaysia's Independence-X is the only Southeast Asian team in Google Lunar XPrize

Malaysia’s Independence-X is the only Southeast Asian team in Google Lunar XPrize

In Kuala Lumpur, a small team of Malaysian engineers is racing to make history in Southeast Asian space exploration.

Independence-X is the sole team from the region to participate in the Google Lunar XPrize, a global competition in which private-sector players must land a robotic spacecraft on the Moon, have it travel 500 meters and transmit high-definition (HD) video and images back to Earth, by the end of 2017.

Unlike Japan, China or India, Southeast Asia has a dearth of private space companies; Independence-X is the only one in Malaysia.

"Our aim is innovation. It's impossible to have a vision of the future without development in space technology," team leader Izmir Yamin said on the sidelines of the inaugural Global Entrepreneurship Community conference in Kuala Lumpur.

On Thursday, CNBC was given exclusive access to images of Independence-X's spacecraft, named 'Henry.' It weighs a hefty 850 kilograms, but is only 1.4 meters tall and 2 meters wide, and comes with an HD imaging camera and a water sensor to transmit any discovery of water data.

In order to foster entrepreneurship and a low-cost space economy, Google Lunar XPrize stipulates that government funding can only account for 10 percent of a team's total mission cost. Most of Independence-X's cash has come from private corporations, crowd funding donations and reward-based contributions so far, Yamin said.

The competition is offering a whopping $20 million for the first team that completes the mission and $5 million for second-place winners, but the road to victory remains a long one for the Malaysian firm.

RELATED ARTICLES
- Advertisment -

Most Popular