Posted on 09/13/2007 12:53:44 PM PDT by hoagy62
LOS ANGELES — Google Inc. is bankrolling a $20 million out-of-this-world prize to the first private company that can safely land a robotic rover on the moon and beam back a gigabyte of images and video to Earth, the Internet search leader said Thursday.
If the competition produces a winner, it would prove a major boon to the emerging private spaceflight industry and mark the first time that a nongovernment entity has flown a lunar space probe.
Google partnered with the X Prize Foundation for the moon challenge, which is open to companies around the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
That’s what I was wondering, if someone could even DO the mission for under $20million.
Meanwhile Hollyweird keeps churning out remakes for $50-150million in production/advertising expenses.
Modern lighter materials, and more powerful boosters than the 1960s technology should help bring the costs down.
Also, it would help a lot if an early rocket stage could use atmospheric oxygen rather than hauling its own.
All that said, a $200 million dollar prize would make the endeavor have nearly guaranteed profitability.
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