now you can

buy a ride

to the moon

A change in the original X Prize rules now permits competing teams to buy a ride on existing rockets.  The reason for the change is the expertise and high cost involved in designing and building a rocket capable of flying the robot to the moon.  Buying a ride could cost as little as $5 million; building a rocket, a $100 million or more. [14]




 

official guidelines

  1. 1. design, build and land a privately funded craft on the moon.

  2. 2. traverse the lunar surface for a distance of at least 500 meters.

  3. 3. complete specific mission goals

  4. 4. transmit two ‘mooncasts’ back to earth.


$20 million Grand Prize

    soft land a craft on the moon that travels 500 meters and sends a    

    Mooncast transmission back to Earth.

    Timeline: 

        $20 million before Dec. 31, 2014; $15 million after until dec. 31st, 2014


$5 million Second Prize

    complete the mission in 2nd place

    timeline:

        Available until Dec. 31st, 2014


Bonus Prizes for additional tasks  -  $5 Million

    Rove 5,000 meters

    take pictures of human artifacts from previous lunar missions

    discover water/ice

    survive the lunar night (14.5 Earth days)


Mooncast requirements

    digital data collected and transmitted to Earth

        High resolution 360 degrees panoramic photographs from the

            surface of the moon

        Self portraits of the rover on the surface

        Near real time videos of the lunar rover

        High definition video 

    First mooncast

        cached data (email) along with footage of the arrival on the moon

    Second Mooncast

        Pictures and video of the Robot’s journey roaming the surface [13]