Google Running Lunar Space Prize

Google has announced the Lunar X Prize, a $30 million prize that will be awarded to the first team of developers to successfully launch a private robotic rover on the moon. Much like the previous Ansari X Prize, which inspired many teams to launch a private space flight, Google hopes to jump start research in this area with its prize, which will go to the first team to land the rover and complete certain specific objectives.
According to the summary of the Google Lunar X Prize competition guidelines, the winning team must successfully land a privately funded spacecraft on the lunar surface that survives long enough to complete the mission goals: roaming about the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending a defined digital data package – called a “Mooncast” – back to Earth.
The $30 million to be awarded is segmented into a $20 million grand prize, a […]

Original post by Nathan Weinberg