10 Teams Registered For $30 Million Google Lunar X Prize
The X Prize Foundation and Google, Inc. has recently
named the first 10 teams to register for the Google Lunar X
Prize, a robotic race to the Moon to win $30 million in Prizes.
This international group of teams will compete to land a privately
funded robotic craft on the Moon that is capable of roaming the
lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and
data back to the Earth.
Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X Prize
Foundation, announced the teams at Google Headquarters in Mountain
View, CA, and as always, ANN and Aero-TV were a part of the
action.
"I'm very pleased to welcome our first 10 fully registered teams
to the Google Lunar X Prize," Diamandis said. "Only six months
after the announcement of this competition, the response has been
incredible -- we've received over 567 expressions of interest from
53 nations. By comparison, at the six-month point of the Ansari X
Prize we had only two teams registered. I think we're going to see
an exciting and very competitive race to the Moon, highlighted by
some very creative designs unlike anything we've seen come out of
the government space programs.
"Many of these teams represent some of the most creative and
entrepreneurial minds in space exploration today," he added. "I
wish them all the very best of luck. I can't wait to join with
Google in paying the winner."
As ANN has reported, the $30 million prize purse is segmented
into a $20 million Grand Prize, a $5 million Second Prize and $5
million in bonus Prizes. To win the Grand Prize, a team must
successfully soft land a privately funded spacecraft on the Moon,
rove on the lunar surface for a minimum of 500 meters, and transmit
a specific set of video, images and data back to the Earth.
The Grand Prize is $20 million until December 31, 2012;
thereafter it will drop to $15 million until December 31, 2014 at
which point the competition will be terminated unless extended by
Google and the X Prize Foundation.
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Names Ten Teams Shooting For The Moon!
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