The Hindu Business Line : Lunar mission contest evokes good response

Hyderabad, Sept. 27 The race to build a robotic rover and send it to the Moon by private enterprises with a $30-million prize up for grabs has started gaining momentum.

Announced by Google, the Internet giant, and the US-based X Prize Foundation recently, the competition has already received dozens of expressions of interest globally, including a few from India.

The deadline for the competition, which hopes to open up new avenues to private enterprise into space exploration, targeting the Moon first is December 31, 2014.

The Executive Director of X Prize Foundation, Mr Bretton S. Alexander, told newspersons at the ongoing 58th International Astronautical Congress that the first prize of $20 million would be given for any private initiative that can build a rover and send it to the Moon and ensure that it moves at least 500 metres on the lunar surface first.

Pvt initiative

The competition is expected to rejuvenate interest in the Moon and planetary exploration, especially from the private sector. In the long run, this should lower the costs of space travel, he said.

Cheap space travel

Google and X Prize Foundation hope to use the power of the Internet to excite children, students and teachers about space and science learning in general.

Also, the competition should serve as a vehicle for unleashing a series of developments that should accelerate space travel making it more affordable.

“We expect that the participant would have to spend $20 million upwards to build the robotic rover and send it to the Moon.

The earliest expectations of the winners are in 2011 or 2012,” he said.

X Prize Foundation, which has 11 living Astronauts supporting the venture, had earlier ran up a $10-million prize competition for Genomics and also in Automobile developments.

More Stories on : Internet | Science & Technology

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page