29 teams from 17 countries will participate in the Google Lunar X PRIZE , an original private space race sponsored by the Internet giant. The objective of the competition is for each group to send an automated vehicle to the Moon and film a video in which the device appears traveling a minimum distance of 500 meters . The team that reaches the goal first will receive a prize of $ 30 million. Among the participants is one made up entirely of Spaniards: the Barcelona Moon Team.
With this initiative, the X-Prize Foundation and Google want to demonstrate that the future of the space race depends on the private sector, and that it is possible to create automated vehicles much cheaper than those produced by current space agencies to travel through the Solar System. NASA supports the initiative, and has already announced that it will buy data related to the mission to the Moon worth 10 million dollars.
? From the first flight of the Wright brothers to the Lewis and Clarck expedition, have the most successful and groundbreaking discoveries been made many times by small business teams? explains Tiffany VC Montague, Director of Google Space Initiatives. “At Google we share with this global group of innovators a passion for tackling tough science and technology challenges, and we wish them the best of luck as they begin this new phase,” he adds.
The competition, considered the longest in history, was announced in September 2007 and the winner is expected to be known in 2015.
