Google Dares Innovators to the Moon for $30M
Last week I was talking about how the world’s first spaceport was to be built by 2009. Leave it to innovators to push the envelope… all the way to the moon.
Google has issued the next X Prize and announced its payout amounts. The first competitors to land a robot on the moon and beam back panoramic photos along with YouTube videos gets $20 million from the search giant. Making that lander survey the lunar night, move over long distances and take pictures of historic sites will net another $5 million. There is even a consolidation prize, $5 million for second place.
Peter Diamandis, the founder and chairman of the X Prize foundation told Wired, “How cool would it be to do what NASA does at a tenth the cost? Or a hundredth? The technologies are there. What we need is a competitive model that can make it happen.”
The interest in space travel is back and in my opinion it is in the right hands. Big budgets that governments bring to the table are sometimes necessary to create technology and perform research. Now the ball is in the hands of the entrepreneurs and they have all the data and technology they need.
Science has had a bad marketing campaign and this is the perfect way to reignite the fire and wonder that we once held for man’s final frontier. This is an exciting time in our history and I simply can’t wait to see what happens next. I’m on the edge of my seat and I hope you’re with me.
[Wired]
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Drew Smith said
am September 14 2007 @ 9:23 am
the first thing that came to mind when I saw the $5,000,000 bonus prize for a rover that moves around and takes pictures of historic sites and such was how funny it would be if they showed up and discovered that NASA really did fake the whole thing and that there weren’t any flags or space cars or footprints on the moon and that the conspiracy theorists were right all along.
Jerad Kaliher said
am September 14 2007 @ 9:51 am
@Drew Smith, bwwwaaaahahaha. I can’t help to be ticked pink whenever I hear about the “lunar conspiracy.” It’s almost too good even for me to get my mind around it.
Some other ones I thoroughly enjoy include:
1. Clinton killed 300 people to cover up is affair with Monica Lewinski.
2. President Truman kidnapped the aliens from Rosswell.
4. President Roosevelt orchestrated Pearl Harbor.