If so, here’s all you’ve got to do: build a robot, launch it to the Moon, land it safely, drive it 500 meters across the surface, and beam images/data back to Earth. Oh, and it’s got to be done by 2013.
This is the premise behind the Google Lunar X-Prize, an incentivized program to spur private development of space exploration know-how and infrastructure. You might recall the Ansari X-prize of several years ago, a $10 million award given to Scaled Composites for building the first private spacecraft capable of 2 100 km-high flights within two weeks. Their accomplishment led to Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson’s latest company which offers $200,000 sub-orbital flights.
So far 14 teams have entered the Lunar X-Prize competition, and most analysts say that even the $30 million prize will not recoup most teams’ investments. While it’s a bit premature to judge the X-Prize concept as a whole, I admire the concept. It presents a framework, a sense of legitimacy, and an inspiring, progressive aesthetic to the bureaucratic morass of space flight. It’s about time that governments be challenged for their supremacy in space.
My only concern is that “blue skies” scientific research is rarely profitable. If commercial ventures carrying tourists into Earth orbit is the future of the space industry, what private company will be willing to explore the oceans of Europa or the lakes of Titan? Public and private modes of space exploration each have their place, and it will be interesting to see how they learn to co-exist.
Just out of curiosity, which countries are represented among the 14 that have signed up? Is Scaled Composites among them? What does the testing phase of these robots involve? They can’t just shoot stuff up into the atmosphere randomly, right? So how do they troubleshoot/refine while Earth-bound?
Scaled Composites is not among the contenders, at least at this stage: perhaps they are a little busy scaling up their previous work for Virgin Galactic. There are several American teams, an Italian team, a Romanian team, a couple international teams (including representation from Canada, Singapore, and Switzerland), and a “Mystery team.” That’s a good question about testing regulations, and looks like you have to register as a competitor to get the full set of guidelines…
Scaled Composites, as a company, are more about cutting-edge tech for atmospheric flight than attempting lunar trips, I think.
Is the launcher part of the competition? I thought you could use an established rocket system to get you there, and that the prize was for demonstrating the landing, roving and other abilities. Hence, you wouldn’t need to test/troubleshoot the rocket.
Aah, no launcher. That makes sense. Though it seems a little inhibitory to real creativity to make the robot-rover compliant with the existing launchers. Seems like it would be more fun to start from scratch. Though a lot more work, I suppose, to design both a robot and a launcher.
Right. Building a new rocket takes ages, costs a fortune and has to pass all kinds of regulatory hurdles. Probably the most promising private rocket concept comes from PayPal millionaire Elon Musk. Even with all his bucks, he’s been struggling for years to get his Falcon rockets to work. If the competition required the entrant to build their own rocket, it’s very unlikely this competition could be won in the timeframe.
There are probably easier ways of earning $30m, especially as this is equivalent to about £5.99 at today’s prices.
Low blow, Henry. Ouch.
And that’s just US dollars. If we were in poor benighted Zimbabwe, $30m would probably be just enough to buy half a toothpick.