【Thailand】

After 10 years and Thailandnumerous delays and extensions, the Google Lunar XPrize is will end without a winner.

No one will claim the $20 million grand prize that was expected to go to the first participating private company to land a spacecraft on the moon and perform a series of tasks.

"After close consultation with our five finalist Google Lunar XPRIZE teams over the past several months, we have concluded that no team will make a launch attempt to reach the Moon by the March 31st, 2018 deadline," XPrize said in a statement.

"This literal 'moonshot' is hard, and while we did expect a winner by now, due to the difficulties of fundraising, technical and regulatory challenges, the grand prize of the $30M Google Lunar XPRIZE will go unclaimed."

In the heyday of the Lunar XPrize, dozens of teams competed for the chance to win the grand prize.

At one point, John Thornton, the CEO of Astrobotic, one of the teams that was competing for the prize, suggested that if multiple teams flew to the moon together, they could have something like a NASCAR race for the prize once they arrive at the lunar surface.

While leaving $30 million of Google's money on the table is certainly a disappointment, the Lunar XPrize still accomplished a lot over the course of its decade-long stint in the public eye.

For example, Moon Express, one of the teams involved in the program, managed to start a conversation with the government that will likely lead to a regulatory framework in which private companies could launch to and land on the moon.

This is a big deal in no small part because the stated goal of the Lunar XPrize was to help foster a global industry where private companies could fly to space without solely relying on a government partnership.

"As a result of this competition, we have sparked the conversation and changed expectations with regard to who can land on the Moon. Many now believe it’s no longer the sole purview of a few government agencies, but now may be achieved by small teams of entrepreneurs, engineers, and innovators from around the world," XPrize said.

"We are thankful to the teams for their decade of hard work, and acknowledge that a number of our teams are now, finally building flight ready hardware, contracting with launch providers and are close to being able to make their attempt to land on the Moon."

While Google's work with the Lunar XPrize is finished, it's still possible that the competition could be resurrected in some other form.

Another sponsor may choose to fund the prize, or it may go forward without a cash prize at all, XPrize said, with the organization promoting the teams involved in the program.

At least for Bob Richards, CEO of Moon Express, the end of the competition won't signal the end of the company's lunar ambitions.

"The competition was a sweetener in the landscape of our business case, but it's never been the business case itself," Richards said in an emailed statement.

"We continue to focus on our core business plans of collapsing the cost of access to the Moon, our partnership with NASA, and our long-term vision of unlocking lunar resources for the benefit of life on Earth and our future in space.”