re: You don't get it.
The fact that they were on two teams should have clued you in, but you have this fixation going. It is about PR not money for LockMart and any other big Aerospace contractor. They won't intentionally fail it's not good PR.
Prizes won't work without making them really big. Say 1.5 Billion for a two MER like rovers and 2.5 Billion for a sample returned...
and there will still be lots of failures. We don't want failure. We want samples and data. I don't think companies capable of succeeding will play your game without the big money and some up front whether they "win" or not.