Fairmont Students Win 2015 MOONBOTS Challenge Presented by Google and XPRIZE

Anaheim, California, October 14, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Fairmont Private Schools’ siblings Kamran and Nadia Ansari are part of one of four teams to win the 2015 MOONBOTS Challenge presented by Google and XPRIZE. Besting 235 teams from 29 countries, Team GalacTECHs, composed of Fairmont North Tustin Campus students’ Kamran (10) and Nadia (11), as well as teammates Rayyan (10) and Aleena Ali (8), impressed judges with a plan for safe and affordable lunar vacations. Later this month, the team will travel to the annual Google Lunar XPRIZE team summit in Tokyo, Japan, to officially compete against the other winning teams for a $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE, a global competition to land a privately funded robot on the moon.

Phase one of the competition began in April with teams submitting a written or video entry about a theory or legend inspired by the moon. Based on these submissions, judges narrowed the competition to just 30 teams for phase two, which required teams to design, create, and program a robotic lunar mission simulation based on the team’s initial submission, then share their findings with the community.

Using a VEX IQ robotic platform, Team GalaTECHs built a mobile moon resort that would travel the moon’s surface, regulating temperature and preserving resources. Team GalacTECHs presented their innovation at “Rocket Fever” Day, hosted by the Columbia Space Center in Downey, and to the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Ana.