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<DIV>Google Lunar's XPRIZE is coming to the final leg, with 5 teams left and a deadline of Dec 31, 2017.</DIV>
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<DIV><A href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38731862">http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38731862</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Israel's team has a hopper that will be riding on a SpaceX rocket.</DIV>
<DIV>India and Japan have wheeled rovers and will be sharing a ride on an Indian rocket. I give props to Japan's team for a clean, functional design (only 4kg) and to India's team for the consumer friendliness of their model. You could easily anthropomorphize India's build and drop it into a movie or sell mini-versions Short Circuit style.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The U.S. and International teams are planning to ride on two different, so-far untested rockets - a major risk IMO, but who am I to tell them what to do :)<BR><BR><BR>Should be interesting to see what happens.<BR><BR><BR>Ezra</DIV>
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