Once again, the ever-fluid deadline for the Google Lunar X-Prize (GLXP) has been extended. This award is now getting well beyond its use-by date. The GLXP was already on shaky ground before this. The latest announcement only deepens the wounds to this increasingly questionable project.
When it was announced in 2007, the GLXP was an inspiration. It gave publicity and credibility to the rapidly emerging "new space" movement, which has spawned dozens of enterprises, big and small.
A hefty prize would go to the first private team to land a rover on the Moon. And it had to be done by 2014. For the third time, that deadline has now been extended, with March 2018 as the new target.
Getting to the Moon is hard, and we could accept the first extension. It reflected the fact that the bar had probably been set too high for everyone. But the deadline now seems somewhat arbitrary. If nobody lands on the Moon by the latest target, will the deadline be shifted again?
The integrity of the Prize as a genuine contest has been harmed. It seems that the managers of the GLXP could simply keep rearranging things for the convenience of their entrants, instead of demanding that their entrants meet the original goals. The GLXP is starting to take on some of the characteristics of a rigged beauty pageant.
The managers of the GLXP need to accept that they are suffering from a credibility problem. That's harmful to the people behind the Prize, the sponsors and the competitors. They also need to accept that they can still recover some integrity with an easily achievable outcome. There is no dishonour in not awarding the Prize.
Years ago, a major research institute staged a high-profile contest for self-driving vehicles. A prize would go to the first team to complete a special course. Robots were racing! Teams entered and started their engines. But not a single entrant could even finish the race.
The result was disappointing, but there was no shame or ridicule for the entrants, the competition or the institute behind it. The contest had provided useful insight into the state of self-driving vehicles at the time. Everything was conducted with integrity, and everyone came out of it wiser.
The GLXP should learn from this. There should be no more extensions of the deadline. If nobody puts tracks on the Moon by that stage, the GLXP should be terminated.
This does not mean that the GLXP was a waste of time. So much good has come from it. Budding engineers have been inspired. The public have been reminded that spaceflight is a part of our lives. But those benefits will not increase with an extended competition.
It's time to resolve this matter. We have learned a lot by going through this process, even if some of those lessons have been painful. Let's take those lessons on board in the months to follow. Getting to the Moon is harder than we thought. That's a reality we have learned the hard way. Reality has already bitten the GLXP and its associates. Let's stop those bites from becoming too deep.
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