FYI,

"Google Sponsors Lunar X PRIZE to Create a Space Race for a New
Generation"
X PRIZE Foundation Press Release

: The X PRIZE Foundation and Google Inc. today announced the Google
: Lunar X PRIZE, a robotic race to the Moon to win a remarkable
: $30 million prize purse. Private companies from around the world
: will compete to land a privately funded robotic rover on the Moon
: that is capable of completing several mission objectives, including
: roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending
: video, images and data back to the Earth.

: The Google Lunar X PRIZE is an unprecedented international
: competition that will challenge and inspire engineers and
: entrepreneurs from around the world to develop low-cost methods of
: robotic space exploration. The X PRIZE Foundation, best known for
: the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for private suborbital spaceflight,
: is an educational nonprofit prize organization whose goal is to
: bring about radical breakthroughs to solve some of the greatest
: challenges facing the world today.

: "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," said
: Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation.
: "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."

: "Having Google fund the purse and title the competition punctuates
: our desire for breakthrough approaches and global participation,"
: continued Diamandis. "By working with the Google team, we look
: forward to bringing this historic private space race into every
: home and classroom. We hope to ignite the imagination of children
: around the world."

Mark Reiff