Hysea organised "Architecting a Moonshot", an interactive session

Hyderabad, May 25, 2017: The Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association, HYSEA, an apex body of more than 300 IT, ITES companies and represents software industry in the state organised "Architecting a Moonshot" an interactive session with Rahul Narayan and Sheelika Ravishankar of Team Indus, the Benguluru based Aerospace startup.

Team Indus has been in limelight for the kind of a challenge they have accepted to put a Robot on the moon. Their moon mission and offer to take names of the people on the moon etc. have generated lot of curiosity among the many citizens.

In this light of background the interactive session was organised by HYSEA recently in the city

The talk outlined the journey of Team Indus from its inception to the present day, their Moon Mission, the technology and science that goes behind the mission, their efforts etc

Hundred technology enthusiasts and start-ups participated in the one hour long interactive session held on Friday evening Vega Conference Hall, Inside View, Ascendas IT Park in Madhapur.

Team Indus is the only Indian team vying to be the first private entity to soft-land their spacecraft on the moon, as a part of the Google Lunar X-Prize Competition. The expected cost of the mission is Rs 400crore of which it said to have spent Rs 100crore.

The Bengaluru-based Space Company, Team Indus, is one of the finalists along with Florida’s Moon Express, Israel’s SpaceIL, an international team called Synergy Moon and Japan’s Hakuto.

The mission they embarked upon is a challenge that calls for participating teams to design and land a robot on the Moon. The Robot is required to travel more than 500 meters on the lunar surface and send feedback to earth. The deadline of the competition is December 31, 2017. The Indian entrant - TeamIndus has been competing against 29 teams from 17 countries to win the US$20 million grand prize and additional prize worth US$5 million.

On the last count, only 16 teams said to have been in the fray. But the number of teams that actually have a launch contract are very few. Team Indus been ranked among the top 3 teams in the world in the competition.”

In order to reach the final stage, these companies had to secure a verified launch contract before the end of 2016.

The mission aroused lot of interest as it being the only Indian team who accepted and qualified for the challenge. Also there was a lot of curiosity generated about their mission as they have come up with a unique way of involving every Indian in their moon mission with a contribution of Rs 500 they will fly their name to the moon. For Rs 500, Team Indus will take the names of their public donors and immortalize them on the moon, by micro-engraving them on a small-sized aluminium object, which will then be placed on the lunar surface when their lander descends on the moon.

The fledgeling Team Indus will tie up with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the aim of hoisting India’s flag through an unmanned spacecraft on the lunar surface on January 26, 2018, the 69th Republic Day.

Team Indus roped in Angel investors like Nandan Nilekani, Ratan Tata and space sages like K Kasturirangan as advisors.

Team Indus claims they are now among the top four contenders for the prize and they already bagged USD 1 million milestone prize from Google.

Team Indus's Moon Mission has many firsts and lot of novelties. It has generated lot of curiosity among millions of Indians.

The Start-up has secured a dedicated PSLV launch vehicle, and has previously been awarded $1M as milestone prize in its bid to win the Google Lunar XPrize.

Team Indus has come a long way over the past couple of years - securing independent tech validation by an international panel of experts, winning $1M as milestone prize, partnership with French Space agency CNES, a dozen ISRO experts working full time, 75 person engineering team and an integrated design & development facility in Bangalore set up to ensure quality output on schedule for a Dec 2017 launch for the Moon.

The Team Indus initiative if succeeds it will not just be a source of pride for all of us, very likely lead the way for core engineering technology development coming out of India. Quite like several other initiatives from India, Team Indus has beaten long odds to come this far. The participants have drawn lot of inspiration from their interactive session.