Google launches a contest to bring robots to the moon

A race to conquer the moon with privately invested robots can cost each team more than the $ 20 million prize they are pursuing. But all the participants in this competition claim that Google's Lunar X prize is a new driving force for the space business.

Last Thursday, Google's contest organizers Lunar X announced the names of the first 10 teams participating in the competition. Starting in September 2007, Google's Lunar X competition requires participants to land a space robot on the moon, discover the moon's terrain at least 500 meters, and transfer the results of the journey. This is about the earth.

The first prize for the contest is 20 million USD, the second prize is 5 million USD and the bonus is 5 million USD.

While some teams were challenged, the 10 officially registered teams had a talk at Google's headquarters about their plans. For example, the Astrobotics team said it will begin its mission in early 2009.

Competition teams participated in a ceremony hosted by competition organizer Google's Lunar X, Peter Diamandis and two Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Those who aspire to win prizes in Google's Lunar X competition this year hope to earn a profit from developing new ways of traveling to the moon or putting robot research teams into space.