How to Win the Google Lunar X Prize and Beat NASA to the Moon

The year is 2012. A quarter-million miles from Earth, a small spacecraft is nearing the surface of the moon. When the unmanned craft touches down in a cloud of rocket-blown dust, it becomes the first man-made object to arrive intact on the lunar surface in 32 years. But the logo on the side of the spacecraft doesn't belong to NASA or any other government space agency. Instead the spacecraft reveal a familiar multicolored corporate logo: Google's.

David Noland writing for Popular Mechanics in the June 2008 issue weaves a scenario reminiscent of biblical David and Goliath, where the common man could conceivably take on corporate and governmental giants to be the first private person to land a craft on another world. Click the article title to go to the Popular Mechanic's article

Illustration is PM’s vision of a lunar lander on arrival. (Illustration by Jeremy Cook)

Arthur C. Clarke comments on the Google Xprize!

Are you up for a rip rousing speech from the father of the communications satellite? Well here ya go! Arthur C. Clarke comments on Google's plans to offer 20 million in total prizes to the first private enterprise to land a craft of robotic nature on the surface of the moon and do useful science while there. Clarke comments, that he never thought he would live to see men on the moon and never imagined he would live to see the end. Here is his video speech and I hope you find it as extrodinarily moving as I did!

Thanks to SF Signals blog for the heads up!

Google offering 30m to first private moon landing

BBC News reports that search giant Google is offering a $30m prize pot to private firms that land a robot rover on the Moon. To claim the cash, any craft reaching the lunar surface must perform a series of tasks such as shoot video and roam for specific distances. The top prize of $20m will be given to the private firm that soft lands a rover on the Moon which then completes a series of objectives. These include roaming the lunar surface for at least 500m and gathering a specific set of images, video and data. A prize of $5m will be given to the second firm that manages to reach the Moon with a rover that roams the surface and shoots some pictures. Google said it would give bonuses of $5m if the rovers complete other objectives such as travelling further on the Moon, taking pictures of Apollo hardware, finding water-ice and surviving the freezing lunar night.

Thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post

Three dead in California spaceport blast

Three people were killed and three others critically injured on Thursday July 27, 2007 - in an explosion at the California testing facilities operated by commercial spaceflight pioneer Burt Rutan.The blast occurred at the Mojave Air and Space Port, where Scaled Composites, the company formed by Rutan, was testing rocket motor components. Two people were killed instantly in the explosion at 1434 local time and four others were rushed to a local hospital. One of those died following surgery. Rutan was the first person to privately put a crewed space craft into space, collecting the XPrize with the feat.

Thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post