7 teams for private Indian moon mission, 3 from India

Spaceflight venture Moon Express (MoonEx) received approval from the US Government for an unmanned private mission to moon.

It is a first commercial firm to get such Government authorization for private mission beyond earth's orbit.

MoonEx's two-week mission includes sending a 'suitcase-sized lander' to lunar surface, in late 2017.

The mission's spacecraft in its one-way trip will carry science experiments and some commercial cargo.

Before the US government's approval to MoonEx, no regulatory framework existed for private space missions outside earth's orbit.

To address this, MoonEx came up with a regulatory patch which the US government could use to oversee its mission to moon.

Other private companies planning to explore outer space (Elon Musk's SpaceEx mission to mars) will follow the same framework.

Moon Express (MoonEx) began in 2010 as a privately funded commercial space company.

It was founded by Dr.Bob Richards, a space visionary who serves as its CEO, IIT-Roorkee alumnus Naveen Jain, Indian-born technology pioneer and MoonEx's chairman, and Dr.Barney Pell, space technology expert and company's CTO.

The company was formed with a 'vision to be at the forefront of commercial space exploration and innovation'.

MoonEx is one of the 16 teams, contending for Google Lunar XPRIZE.

Set up by Google in 2007, Lunar XPrize is a $30 million international competition to send the first privately funded vehicle to the moon.

The first team to land and get their vehicle moving at least 500 meters on moon's surface, and beam HD videos/photos to earth will win $20 million prize.

The five teams who will compete for Google's Lunar-X prize for landing on the moon now have just 341 days until the day of the launch.

SpaceIL (Israel), MoonExpress (United States), TeamIndus (India), Hakuto (Japan), and SynergyMoon, an international syndicate will be competing for the $20 million prize.

The first to land on the moon and move 500m across the lunar surface would win.

Seven teams, including three from India have qualified for India's private moon mission.

According to a statement from TeamIndus, "Teams Callisto, Ears and Kalpana from India, Space4Life from Italy, Lunadome from Britain, Killa Lab from Peru and Regolith Revolution from the US have qualified."

The TeamIndus spacecraft would be launched aboard a PSLV rocket from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.