1. When and why was the X PRIZE Foundation formed?
The X PRIZE Foundation was founded in 1995 by Dr. Peter H. Diamandis. After reading The Spirit of St. Louis by Charles Lindbergh, Dr. Diamandis realized that his lifelong dream of traveling into space could be made a reality through the creation of a prize similar to the one Lindbergh was awarded for crossing the Atlantic by aircraft. To accomplish that, the Foundation created the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for Suborbital Spaceflight and, following the successful completion of that program in 2004, has since expanded to other competitions in other fields.
The goal of the X PRIZE Foundation is to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. We do this through the creation of large ($10 million or more) incentive prize competitions that have clear, objective goals. These innovative, high-profile competitions motivate individuals, companies, and organizations around the world to solve the grand challenges that are currently restricting humanity’s progress.
2. Why has the X PRIZE Foundation focused on lunar exploration?
We are dedicated to starting “Moon 2.0”—a new era of lunar exploration that will be more participatory and more sustainable than humanity’s first Moon race.
Scientists and explorers around the world have helped us realize that the Moon is a vast, largely untapped resource that allows us to study our fragile Earth and to learn enormous amounts about the formation of our solar system. Additionally, we know that inexpensive, regular access to the Moon is a critical stepping stone for further exploration. In the very near term, the missions driving Moon 2.0—including those mounted by Google Lunar X PRIZE teams—will return data that will help us gain a deeper understanding of our solar system, galaxy, and universe. In the future, follow on missions building on those initial successes and led by both government space agencies and private companies will take concepts such as lunar bases, propellant depots, solar power satellites, and more from the realm of science fiction to the realm of science fact.
We also know that investments made by our teams and the technologies and systems they establish, along with subsequent advancements developed by their customers and partners, will continue to pay dividends with practical applications here on Earth.
History has shown that a race to the Moon can inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers like nothing else. We believe that Moon 2.0 and, in particular, the stories and the triumphs of the global community of innovators and entrepreneurs competing for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, will motivate the high tech workforce of tomorrow and show people of all ages how they can personally contribute to a worthy and exciting endeavor like space exploration.
3. Why is Google a sponsor of this prize?
Google has been a longtime supporter of the X PRIZE Foundation because of our innovative approach to working with private industry to search for solutions to the many issues facing humanity. Partnering with Google not only allows us to offer this prize, it allows us to bring this important competition into the homes, offices, and classrooms of the world through Google’s technology and global community.
In Google’s words: “We're proud to sponsor the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a prize for the first privately-funded robotic rovers to land on the Moon. We like the approach of using competition to stimulate the private sector to achieve important goals more quickly and affordably than previously possible, and we're glad that the X PRIZE Foundation has chosen the Moon as its next objective. By the time the Google Lunar X PRIZE ends in December 2015, we hope to have helped make private space flight more viable. Efforts like this will stimulate a passion for space-related research and education in a new generation of potential innovators.”
In the words of Google co-founder and President Sergey Brin: “One of the things that really excites me about this project is how it can help with education. I mean, space really fascinates everyone. It fascinates children, it fascinates college students, and I think this will inspire a lot of interest in space, in the physics that surround it, the math, the history of the space programs. I think all of the interest and attention is going to be really beneficial to the education of our children.”
4. Who can compete in the Google Lunar X PRIZE? Who already is competing?
At the X PRIZE Foundation, we believe that no one nation, gender, age group, or profession has a monopoly on creativity or intelligence. Incentive prizes like the Google Lunar X PRIZE work in large part because they generate broad, international interest, especially from groups and individuals not traditionally thought of as important players in that sector or industry. Accordingly, we welcome teams and team members from anywhere in the world, and allow our teams to build and structure themselves to compete. We expect that the Google Lunar X PRIZE will encourage new groups to start thinking about space travel and exploration missions. New teams will form from small associations, universities, and companies both within and outside of the traditional aerospace sector, bringing fresh ideas and innovation to bear on the challenges associated with the prize.
There are only a few exceptions to this rule. In order to ensure that the Google Lunar X PRIZE results in a financially sustainable lunar exploration paradigm, governments are prohibited from participating directly in the Google Lunar X PRIZE and from being the primary financiers of teams. However, we fully support government-led lunar exploration, and we know that civil space agencies will likely be customers of our Google Lunar X PRIZE teams; indeed, in many cases, they already are.
Additionally, nationals and residents of Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria, and other people and entities restricted by US export controls and sanctions programs are not eligible to participate in the Google Lunar X PRIZE.
You can learn about all of the competing teams or download the forms required to register your own team on our website: http://www.googlelunarxprize.org. Registration closes on December 31, 2010.
5. What is your goal for the number of competing teams?
When we first announced the Google Lunar X PRIZE, we wrote, ”We hope the Google Lunar X PRIZE will attract over a dozen teams from numerous countries around the world.” As of September 2010, a total of 26 teams have enrolled in the competition, with 23 still active as registered teams—so, needless to say, we are quite happy with our roster of teams.
In any incentive prize competition, the roster of teams eventually declines as teams merge together, begin to pursue other efforts, or otherwise go dormant. We expect that the Google Lunar X PRIZE will follow this historical trend. Regardless of the final number of teams, though, we know that the Google Lunar X PRIZE has already been incredibly successful in attracting a global community of innovators and entrepreneurs, and has greatly exceeded our expectations.
6. How does the Google Lunar X PRIZE relate to lunar missions being planned by NASA and other government space agencies?
NASA, the European Space Agency, and other space agencies around the world stand as the most obvious near term beneficiaries of the Google Lunar X PRIZE. It is expected that the advancements made by the teams competing for the Google Lunar X PRIZE will allow NASA and other space agencies to save money and expand the capabilities of its future robotic and human missions to the Moon. Indeed, this has already begun to happen—ahead of schedule—with NASA’s Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data program, through which NASA will purchase $30 million worth of data from commercial lunar missions.
Overall, we view the Google Lunar X PRIZE and the efforts of our teams as complementary to, rather than competitive with, government space agencies. We believe the world benefits when the unique strengths of both government-led and industry-led programs are both being brought to bear on the challenging yet rewarding field of space exploration.
7. How much will teams spend to win the Google Lunar X PRIZE?
Three centuries of history have shown that teams competing to win incentive prizes often spend more than the prize value itself. Teams in competitions such as the Orteig Prize, the Ansari X PRIZE, and the DARPA Grand Challenges have spent as much as 5 times the prize purse value to fund their entries; and expenditures of 2.5 times the prize purse value by individual teams are relatively common.
We expect that teams pursuing the Google Lunar X PRIZE will follow these historical trends. A broad range of team expenditures—from as low as $15 million to as high as $100 million—are expected. Past prizes have shown the best funded teams do not necessarily win the prize, however. We look forward to learning from our teams as they pioneer new methods to raise money and to trim costs for a lunar mission.
8. How will teams get their spacecraft to the Moon?
Teams are welcome to get to the Moon in any (legal) manner of their choosing. For most teams. the journey from the Earth to the Moon can be divided into three steps: 1) launch from the surface of the Earth to Earth Orbit, 2) transfer from an Earth Orbit to a Lunar Orbit; and 3) descent from a Lunar Orbit to the surface of the Moon. Although some of our teams are planning to design and use their own launch vehicle, many others are planning on purchasing commercially available launch capacity to complete that first steps. Teams will then use a combination of custom-built systems, innovative designs and commercial available components to tackle the second and third steps.
9. When will the Google Lunar X PRIZE end?
The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a ‘first to demonstrate’ competition—meaning that teams can launch their missions at the date and time of their choosing. The first team to successfully complete the Google Lunar X PRIZE mission will be awarded the Grand Prize. If no team is able to do so, the prize will expire at the end of the year 2015.
Although it is difficult to forecast precisely, we anticipate that the first launch will be attempted in or around early 2013.
10. How can I follow along with the Google Lunar X PRIZE? How can children and students get involved?
To best reach a global audience, the Google Lunar X PRIZE has a thriving online presence. Your first stop should be the competition’s home page (http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/), where you can learn about the competition, meet our teams, and follow along with them as they post blogs, videos, and photographs showing their progress. These other sites may also be of interest:
In addition, we are excited to use this competition to inspire and educate students of all ages and background, both in the classroom and through out-of-school activities. Working with world class partners like LEGO, the Boy Scouts of America, FIRST Robotics, and the St. Louis Science Center, we have developed a variety of lesson plans, online games and videos, and student competitions. To learn more about our existing educational tools, and to learn about forthcoming programs, please visit: http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/education
11. How does the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X CHALLENGE relate to the Google Lunar X PRIZE?
The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X CHALLENGE (NGLLXC) was a $2 million dollar prize program offered by the X PRIZE Foundation in conjunction with Northrop Grumman, New Mexico’s Spaceport America, and NASA’s Centennial Challenges program. The Challenge rewarded innovative, private teams for building and flying vehicles that simulate the journey from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and vice versa. More than a dozen teams competed in the competition, and Armadillo Aerospace of Caddo Mills, TX and Masten Space Systems of Mojave, CA claimed all of the program’s prize money as of November 2009.
Although the exact vehicles developed for the NGLLXC are unlikely to go to the Moon themselves, the core technologies and the teams that designed them clearly have a role to play in the new era of lunar exploration, Moon 2.0. Several NGLLXC teams and team members are directly competing in the Google Lunar X PRIZE already, and the remainder will serve as an inspiration—and possibly even as suppliers and partners—for the other teams.
12. Who regulates private lunar missions?
The Google Lunar X PRIZE rules require teams to abide by the relevant national and international regulations while pursuing the prize. Most teams will need to deal with several government agencies over the course of their mission. For example, teams based in the United States of America will need to acquire a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration, permissions to use certain radio frequencies to communicate from their vehicle from the Federal Communications Commission, and potentially permits governing the imaging of Earth from space from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In most cases, space agencies such as NASA play no direct role in any permitting or similar processes, although they may play and advisory role in support of other agencies.
13. Why isn't the X PRIZE Foundation focused on solving the problems here on Earth?
We are! The X PRIZE Foundation runs prizes in a variety of sectors—Education and Global Development, Energy and the Environment, Exploration and Life Sciences—each of which is designed to generate radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity, We recently awarded $10 million through the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, which challenged teams from around the world to build a new generation of viable, super-efficient vehicles that help break our addiction to oil and stem the effects of climate change. In addition to the Google Lunar X PRIZE, we are currently offering the $10 million Archon Genomics X PRIZE, which will help usher in an era of personalized medicine, and the $1.4 million Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE, which will stimulate the invention of technologies to help us mitigate future disasters like the 2010 Deep Horizon oil spill.
Although the ‘finish line’ for the Google Lunar X PRIZE is off-planet, we believe that the main benefits of this competition occur right here on Earth. We believe it is our duty to use the resources of space to help our fellow passengers on spaceship Earth. The motivation of the original X PRIZE was to open space for the development of humanity, and to lower the price of space travel to set the stage for further exploration—much like the mission of the Google Lunar X PRIZE. As discussed above, the benefits of lunar exploration range from the abstract to the highly practical, and from the near term out into the future. Of course, in the meantime, our competing teams are already creating new, high tech jobs all around the world, even in the midst of a global recession.
