Puli Space Technologies

Puli Space Technologies is a Hungarian space technology company founded in June 2010 in Budapest by physicist Dr. Tibor Pacher (CEO) and Pál Gábor Vizi, originally to compete for the Google Lunar X Prize as 'Team Puli.' The team, named after the Hungarian herding-dog breed, initially proposed a spherical rolling lander before developing the four-wheeled 'Puli' rover, which used leg-like 'wheg' structures for mobility on the lunar surface; the Google Lunar X Prize ended in 2018 without any team completing a launch, and Team Puli was among the competitors that withdrew before the deadline.

Rather than ceasing operations when the prize ended, Puli Space pivoted to supplying lunar science instruments and engineering services to other missions. Its main current project is the Puli Lunar Water Snooper (PLWS), a neutron spectrometer instrument designed to detect water ice beneath the lunar surface; a PLWS payload flew to the Moon's south pole region aboard Intuitive Machines' IM-2 mission, which launched in February 2025.

The company, based at Fogarasi út 5, Budapest, works with partners including NASA, the European Space Agency and Intuitive Machines, and continues to develop planetary rover and in-situ resource utilisation technology for the lunar market. Puli Space Technologies remains an active, privately held company; it is not defunct despite its original Google Lunar X Prize team having withdrawn from that competition.