Google Inc announces race to the moon

Run a rover on the moon successfully and you could win $20 million as prize money.

The X Prize Foundation and Google Inc have announced a robotic race to the moon to generate awareness among the people to devise low-cost methods for space exploration.

The project should be privately funded without any government subsidy or support, Bretton S F Alexander, Executive Director, X Prize Foundation said here today.

The rules of the game are that participants must land a rover on the lunar surface, run it for at least 500 metre and send video images and data back to earth, he told reporters on the sidelines of the 58th International Astronautical Congress here.

"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," he said.

The announcement, made about 10 days back, has received over 150 expressions of interest and seven persons have signed up by making an initial payment of 1,000 dollars, Alexander said.

"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 said.

The total prize money for the competition is $30 million of which $20 million would go to the winner while the runners up would get $five million.

Another $ five million would be given as performance bonuses to the participants.

An international panel of experts will judge the entries, which have to land on moon before the end of 2014, Alexander said.

The registration will cost 10,000 dollars this year and those signing up in 2008 will have to pay 25,000 dollars while others have to cough up 50,000 dollars as the entry fee.

The participants are free to use any launch vehicle to put the project in orbit but have to ensure that the same facility is made available to other participants to maintain equal opportunity.

After Dec 31, 2012, the purse will drop to $15 million until December 31, 2014. "Legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, built and flew the world's first private spaceship at a cost of $25 million to win the $10 million-dollar Ansari X PRIZE in 2004," he said.