Journal: Google Sponsors a New Space Race to the Moon

Google and the X PRIZE Foundation announced today the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a robotic race to the Moon. The first private company that lands a robotic rover 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 will win up to $30 million segmented in a number of prizes. Bonus prizes will be won by successfully completing additional mission tasks such as roving longer distances (more than 5,000 meters), imaging man made artifacts (e.g. Apollo hardware) or discovering water ice.