Google $20 Million Moon Contest
- From: Chad Bryant <rspw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:07:44 +0200 (CEST)
Having conquered cyberspace, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey
Brin have set their sights on a new frontier - the moon.
The duo first considered building their own private space ship. But
instead they have arranged for their Mountain View company to fund the
Lunar X Prize, a competition that will award $20 million to the first
team that lands a private unmanned spacecraft on the moon - and
broadcasts high-definition video back to earth.
"When you do it by yourself, it's more risky," said Bretton Alexander,
who is overseeing the space-related prizes for the X Prize Foundation,
which announced the competition Thursday. "One mission could fail," he
added, while multiple missions would be more likely to succeed.
In a video statement prepared for Thursday's announcement, Brin said he
had been interested in space exploration as a kid and began following it
more recently as his peers - technology geeks who had grown rich off the
Internet - turned their attention to space.
Brin, who drew headlines this week when it was disclosed that he and
Page had made a deal with the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration to fly their customized wide-body Boeing 767-200 out of
Moffett Field, was unavailable to elaborate on how funding a space race
fit in with Google's Internet advertising business because he was on his
honeymoon.
In an unconventional development for a multibillion-dollar corporation,
Brin's mother-in-law, Esther Wojcicki, stepped in as de facto
spokeswoman.
In a blog post on HuffingtonPost.com, Wojcicki wrote, "Enthusiasts have
long dreamed of humanity reaching the Moon and, after that, the stars;
the hope is that this X PRIZE will encourage research around the world
that will make space exploration cost-effective to make that dream a
realistic one."
Wojcicki, who teaches journalism and English at Palo Alto High School,
said the competition was exciting for teachers because it made space
education a high priority. "The team at the Lunar X Prize has prepared
free learning guides, videos and other resources to help stimulate
student interest not only in space but in math, science and technology
as well," she added.
Alan Eustace, senior vice president of engineering at Google, added in
an official blog post that Google hoped the contest would stoke young
people's interest in math, engineering and computer science.
'Google Moon'
Three weeks ago, Google added detailed satellite imagery of galaxies and
nebulae to Google Earth to give people the chance to explore the sky
from their home computers. On Thursday, the company re-launched a site
it calls "Google Moon," a composite of images from the six missions of
the Apollo space program, which lasted from 1963 to 1972, as well as
sophisticated geological charts.
As a 2004 April Fool's joke, Google posted job openings at the "Google
Copernicus Center," which is described as "our lunar hosting and
research center."
Steven W. Squyres, an astronomy professor at Cornell University and the
principal investigator for science payload for NASA's ongoing rover
mission to Mars, said the Lunar X Prize was a great idea. "I hope
somebody wins it, I really do," he said.
While the requirements for winning the race don't break new scientific
ground - unmanned spacecraft have moved about on the moon for decades -
Squyres said participants could find new, more cost-effective ways to
explore space.
The mission involving NASA's two rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, cost
about $900 million.
Alexander said he expected teams competing in the Lunar X Prize would
spend $20 million to $50 million. While it is unlikely that the prize
money will cover the cost of developing a robotic space vehicle,
Alexander predicted that participants could commercialize the technology
they developed for the race.
He said the X Prize Foundation was hoping to engage the public's
imagination in a variety of ways, including letting people upload photos
and images for a fee of $10 to a DVD that will be sent to the moon on
the competing rovers.
Alexander said the foundation had already received half a dozen
inquiries from potential participants by Thursday afternoon.
One space pioneer who won't be fielding a team is Elon Musk, a serial
entrepreneur (Zip2, PayPal and Tesla Motors) who has been struggling to
create a reliable low-cost launch vehicle.
In an e-mail, Musk, who is a trustee of the X Prize Foundation, said he
would be providing launch services at a discount for the teams.
Previous prizes
The X Prize Foundation, founded by Peter Diamandis, a medical doctor
with a degree in genetics from MIT, completed its first competition in
2004, awarding $10 million to Burt Rutan, an aircraft designer, and
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, after they successfully built an
aircraft that flew 100 kilometers into space twice in two weeks.
Since then, the foundation has offered a $10 million genomics X Prize
for the first private effort to map 100 genomes in 10 days, along with a
multimillion-dollar automotive X Prize for a vehicle that can exceed the
equivalent of 100 miles per gallon in fuel economy.
The foundation hopes to offer a total of 15 prizes to promote scientific
breakthroughs.
The deadline for winning the $20 million Lunar X Prize is Dec. 31, 2012.
After that the purse will drop to $15 million until Dec. 31, 2014, when
the competition will end, unless Google and the foundation decide to
extend it. An additional $5 million is allocated for a second-place
prize. There is also a $5 million bonus prize for finding lunar ice or
roving a longer distance on the moon's surface.
--
Chad Bryant
www.chadbryant.net
If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Google 0 Million Moon Contest
- From: Anonymous
- Re: Google $20 Million Moon Contest
- From: David E. Powell
- Re: Google $20 Million Moon Contest
- From: That Don Guy
- Re: Google 0 Million Moon Contest
- Prev by Date: More Vanessa Hudgens Nude Photos? Or is it Girls Gone Wild?
- Next by Date: Slower US retail sales raise fears for economy
- Previous by thread: More Vanessa Hudgens Nude Photos? Or is it Girls Gone Wild?
- Next by thread: Re: Google $20 Million Moon Contest
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
Loading
