The search giant, known for supporting science projects, backs a private robotic race to the moon…
Los Angeles — Simply not satisfied with displaying images of the moon, internet behemoth Google Inc. on Thursday announced it has sponsored the “Google Lunar X Prize,” for the first private company to send a robotic explorer to the moon with a purse of $30 million.
The company announced the Google Lunar X Prize in association with the “X Prize Foundation” — the group that sponsored a 2004 sub-orbital space flight competition — at Wired magazine’s NextFest in Los Angeles.
To secure the top award, companies from around the world are invited to build a robotic rover capable of roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and then sending video, images and data back to Earth, among other feats.
“The $20-million US winning prize will go to the first team that can successfully beam back a gigabyte of images and video to Earth after their machine completes a 500-metre trek on the moon.”
The idea behind the challenge is to urge private industry to develop new robotic and virtual-presence technology to reduce the cost of space exploration.
“The X Prize is best known for the “$10 million Ansari X Prize,” in which 26 teams from seven countries competed to fly a reusable spacecraft 100 kilometers above the Earth.”
The challenge is the latest initiative from the X Prize Foundation, which in 2004, awarded $10 million US the ‘Ansari X Prize’ to Burt Rutan and financier Paul Allen, who were able to twice launch a rocket — called SpaceShipOne — the first private manned craft to reach the edge of space, and the craft has become the model for Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space tourism company.
The challenge is the largest ever for the X Prize Foundation and the first major prize event for Google, which earlier this year threw a party at the Googleplex to benefit the nonprofit.
“To that end, Google and X Prize launched a Web site for classrooms to learn about the project at Googlelunarxprize.org.”
“The Google Lunar X Prize calls on entrepreneurs, engineers and visionaries from around the world to return us to the lunar surface and explore this environment for the benefit of all humanity,” said Peter, chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, a nonprofit prize-generating group.
“Having Google funds the purse and title the competition punctuates our desire for breakthrough approaches and global participation. We look forward to bringing the historic private space race into every home and classroom,” Diamandis said.
“The Lunar Prize will be broken into segments: a $20 million grand prize, a $5 million second prize and another $5 million in bonuses.”
To claim the full prize, the lunar Lander would have to arrive on the moon and complete the mission by Dec. 31, 2012. The prize falls to $15 million US if the landing takes place by Dec. 31, 2014, when the contest will eventually end.
To win second prize, a team must land its rover on the moon and send data back to Earth, but it is not required to travel 500 meters. A team can collect bonus money for traveling farther than that distance.
“A second-place winner receives $5 million US, with an additional $5 million US reserved for other accomplishments.”
Firms interested in trying for the prize have until the end of 2012 to mount their Moonshot.
X Prize officials said that they expect to see the first teams attempt the challenge within the next four to six years. Teams must be at least 90 percent privately funded in order to compete.
“Google is really excited about this particular effort because we believe in the entrepreneurial spirit and its ability to accomplish the most ambitious tasks,” company co-founder Sergei Brin said in a statement. “When the original Ansari X Prize was launched, it was considered unimaginable that private individuals could commercially venture into space, and yet that was accomplished.”
In a statement announcing the competition, Google and the X-Prize Foundation said it had been created in a bid to stimulate research into low-cost robotic exploration of space.
“More recently, the X Prize Foundation has launched the $10 million Archon X Prize for Genomics, one of the largest such medical prizes.”
Google and X Prize have teamed with several partners to support the contest, including Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), run by PayPal founder Elon Musk. SpaceX will be the preferred launch provider for competing teams. Google and X Prize also have partnered with the Allen Telescope Array, operated by the SETI Institute, to enable the communications downlink from the moon.
Separately, Google has backed contests like the California Clean Tech Open, which will award six fledgling, environmentally conscious businesses with start-up kits worth $100,000 in cash, office space and professional services.