Although science was never the primary driver for the prize, the organizers encourage it through a number of bonus prizes. But some of the teams in contention are planning to do some science on their own initiative—or by carrying a paid-for payload. As the prize reaches a major milestone this month—narrowing down from 16 contenders to the handful that have booked a launch before the end of 2017

Astrobotic was selected to compete for three of the Milestone Prizes: the Landing Prize, the Mobility Prize, and the Imaging Prize. They aim to deliver affordable space robotics technology and missions for a new era of planetary exploration, science, tourism, resource utilization and mining. The company was established in 2008 as a spin-off from the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute. The team's lander has a mass of more than half a metric ton and is about the size of a small SUV. It will release a rover about the size of a go-cart. The team's rover will explore a lunar skylight thought to be an entrance to a subsurface cave network.