Race to the Moon - Again

The history of the space industry is littered with competition. Which country could do what first? Over time, that competition has diminished as nations work at their own pace, or even join forces and work together on projects such as the International Space Station (ISS). But now a new space race has started. It's Google's race to the moon!

Google Lunar X Prize Cup has partnered with Space Florida and unveiled nine new privately-funded teams which are competing for a $30 million (USD) grand prize. The goal is to land a robot on the moon, and to have that robot complete a multitude of tasks. The teams have until December 31, 2012 to claim the grand prize in its entirety. After that, the award drops to $15 million.

The competition ends on December 31, 2014 - with or without a grand champion. The second-place team will win $5 million, and there is an additional $5 million on the table for meeting difficult bonus objectives. An example of a difficult bonus objective would be to photograph man-made objects (such as the Apollo 11 flag) on the moon. Other examples include moving the robot an additional 1600 ft., and surviving more than two weeks in the frigid lunar cold.

Space Florida is offering launch site services and an additional $2 million to the grand prize team if it takes off from an approved site in Cape Canaveral. Space Florida president Steve Kohler believes that a Florida launch would add to the state's rich spaceflight history and make the Sunshine State a hub for future commercial launches. Florida is a recognized leader in lunar exploration, and was the launch site for the Apollo program which first put astronauts on the Moon.

The first competitor, the "Odyssey Moon" team, was announced in December of 2007. They are hopeful that their "Moon One (M-1)" will push this group from the Isle of Man towards the grand prize. The other eight teams are as follows:

- The Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association. Their design is named the European Lunar Explorer.

- Astrobatic. This team is centered at Carnegie Mellon University and headed by William Whittaker. Their designs are called "Artemis Lander" and "Red Rover".

- Chandah. This team is led by Adil Jafry, the Chairman and CEO of Tara, the largest independent retail electricity provider in Texas. Chandagh's design is named "Shehrezade."

- Frednet. This team is led by Fred Bourgeois III, the President and CEO of Applios Inc., and consists of developers, engineers, and scientists.

- LunaTrex. This team is directed by Peter Bitar, the founder of Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems, and includes U.S. experts in rocketry, robotics, aviation, energy, and propulsion. The LunaTrex design is called "Tumbleweed".

- Micro-Space. Led by Richard Speck of Micro-Space, Inc, this team has a design called"Human Lunar Lander".

- Southern California Selene Group. Their design is named the "Spirit of Southern California".

- Team Halia is based in Italy.

All nine teams are running full-speed ahead and racing to be number one. But this latest space race is a long one. Along the way, each time will provide status updates. The race is also looking for more participants, so feel free to step up and join in – if you dare.

CR4 Aerospace Blog