Google has announced a robotic race to the Moon, the winner of which will be in for a windfall of $30 million.The search engine is encouraging private companies from across the world to compete to land a privately funded robotic rover on the satellite that is capable of completing a number of mission objectives.
These objectives include roaming the lunar surface for a minimum of 500m and sending video, data and images back to Earth.
The competition is being run in association with the X Prize Foundation, so far best known for its launch of the $10 million Ansari prize for private suborbital spaceflight.
Commenting on the competition, chairman and chief executive officer of the foundation Dr Peter Diamandis, said: "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.
"We are confident that teams from around the world will help develop new robotic and virtual presence technology, which will dramatically reduce the cost of space exploration."
He added that, through funding the race, Google has demonstrated its desire to participate in "breakthrough approaches" and "global participation".
The X Prize Foundation was created in 1995 and is an educational non-profit institute that strives to create radical technological breakthroughs by offering prizes for privately funded projects.
