Once again we are looking to private initiative to find a new way into space, and $30 million is a nice incentive. Launched in September 2007, the Google Lunar X PRIZE is an international competition to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to the Earth. Teams must be at least 90% privately funded and must be registered to compete by December 31, 2010. The first team to land on the Moon and complete the mission objectives will be awarded $20 million; the full first prize is available until December 31, 2012. After that date, the first prize will drop to $15 million. The second team to do so will be awarded $5 million. Another $5 million will awarded in bonus prizes. The final deadline for winning the prize is December 31, 2014.And the interest is impressive. Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, announced the teams at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California. “I’m very pleased to welcome our first 10 fully registered teams to the Google Lunar X PRIZE. Only 6 months after the announcement of this competition, the response has been incredible – we’ve received over 560 expressions of interest from more than 53 nations."
With the U.S. government, China, Japan and others pushing for the moon as well, it is a positive sign to see a truly open international competition to open up the moon. Just as we had our period of settling the western spaces in America, it seems the new slogan could be "Go up, young man".
