Google Offers $30 Million Prize To Put Robot On Mars

Boston (dbTechno) - Google has announced that they are going to award $30 million to the first private team to put a robot on Mars.

If the task is done by 2012, the top winner will get $20 million. If it is not completed until 2013 or 2014, the prize will be $15 million. $5 million will go to the second place team.

Google along with the X Prize Foundation made the announcement on Thursday at Wired NextFest in Los Angeles.

In the issue of Wired magazine due out this October Spencer Reiss stated that the Google Lunar X Prize will take quit ea bit to win.

The idea behind the prize is to get the creative juices flowing and to try and do things in space which have not been done before. SpaceShipOne won the first X prize three years ago.

CEO of X Prize Foundation Peter Diamandis stated that “The Google Lunar X Prize calls on entrepreneurs, engineers, and visionaries from around the world to return us to the lunar surface and explore this environment for the benefit of all humanity.”

He talked about Google stating that having them fund the purse shows their enthusiasm to progress manking forward.

The contest is to put a privately funded robotic rover on Mars which can roam the surface for 500 meters and send video as well as data back to Earth.

Google and X Prize have launched a web site for students to enjoy and learn about the project at GoogleLunarXPrize.org.