Private organizations on the moon by 2012?

[theotherguy]

Ten teams (including one from my university, Carnegie Mellon) announced they will compete in the 20 million dollar Google X-Prize; whose goal is to put a privately-owned robot on the moon by 2012.

Robots race to the moon for $20-million prize

The race to be the first to land a robot probe on the moon?and collect the $20 million grand prize attached to that feat?has tightened significantly as 10 teams announced they will contend for the Google Lunar X PRIZE. Entrants include Astrobotic Technology, Inc. (made up of engineers from the University of Arizona, Carnegie Mellon University and Raytheon Missile Systems Co.), Quantum3 Ventures (a private Washington, D.C., enterprise formed last month), LunaTrex (a consortium of aerospace companies, along with the University of Dayton in Ohio) and FREDNET (a multinational team of systems, software and hardware developers whose approach includes the use of open-source software and the Internet). The winner will be the first team to successfully land a privately funded spacecraft on the moon, rove on the lunar surface for a minimum of 1,640 feet (500 meters), and transmit video, images and data back to Earth. The grand prize will drop to $15 million if no one successfully completes the mission by the end of 2012, and the competition will be terminated if the teams come up empty by the end of 2014. The moon's rising, but the clock's ticking.

Source:http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=news-bytes-of-the-week-google

 

[Saturos]

Your wishing you were attending this event aren't you theotherguy? I wish I were going to attend Carnegie Mellon next year.

BTW:I just got promoted to Zombie on my 1,000th post. Hooray for me.

 

[theotherguy]

Your wishing you were attending this event aren't you theotherguy? I wish I were going to attend Carnegie Mellon next year.

BTW:I just got promoted to Zombie on my 1,000th post. Hooray for me.

Attend? Hell, I want to join the team! :bounce:

 

[Dog--]

Imagine how much they'd get if they put a person on the moon, FOR THE FIRST TIME?

/conspiracy theory

 

[Stormy]

Surly its going to take more then 20mil to make a robot!

Seems silly to me.

 

[[Matt]]

Imagine how much they'd get if they put a person on the moon, FOR THE FIRST TIME?

/conspiracy theory

Im aware your joking but before anyone else jumps in with a more serious post on this...

http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html

 

[[Matt]]

Surly its going to take more then 20mil to make a robot!

Seems silly to me.

The ansari X prize award was $10 million to the eventual winner of the competition that we all know as SpaceShipOne despite the fact that it costs around $25 million to develop...

 

[Robbo]

Pfft I could do it before then...

 

[bbson john]

Place some nuke launchers on moon and have fun.