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Seven teams, including three from India, have qualified for the country's first private moon mission in December, space technology start-up TeamIndus said on Wednesday.
The state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will fly TeamIndus spacecraft (robot) on its PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) or rocket from its Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km northeast of Chennai.
The city-based TeamIndus is competing in the 30-million dollar Google Lunar Xprize, a global contest to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration.
Cyanobacteria are micro-organisms capable of photosynthesis to produce oxygen using sunlight. They represent the earliest known form of life on earth.
The India-based team, which proposed an experiment to explore photosynthesis on the moon, will fly along with Space4Life to the lunar surface.
An international jury comprising former ISRO Chairman K Kasturirangan, former European Space Agency Chairman Alain Bensoussan and Yale University's Astronomy Professor Priyamvada Natarajan examined the prototypes of the experiments in granular detail over the last three days here.
"Congratulations to Space4Life. The data from its experiment have the potential to dramatically impact mankind," said Kasturirangan in the statement.
Launched in mid-2016, Lab2Moon, a global challenge for youth, inspired about 3,000 teams to send in ideas for experiments.
The Lunar Xprize requires privately funded teams to land their rovers on the surface of the moon, travel 500 metres and broadcast high-definition video, images and data back to earth.
After landing, the spacecraft will deploy its payload, including the TeamIndus rover that will traverse 500 metres on the moon's surface to accomplish its objectives.
TeamIndus' rover has been designed and developed in Bengaluru by a 100-person engineering team, including 20 retired Indian space scientists.
(Article published in an arrangement with IANS.)
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