Groups of engineers, scientists and researchers announced plans Tuesday to compete for the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize by landing a rocket car and a “mobile phone on wheels” on the moon within five years. Google is funding the contest, which requires the winner to land a privately funded spacecraft on the moon, rove at least 500 meters and send video, images and data back to Earth.
Palle Haastrup, president of the Denmark-based European Lunar Exploration Association, or Euroluna, heads one of two new teams unveiled Tuesday that will race for the prize along with 14 other competitors.
“Our plan is to launch something small,” Haastrup said in a teleconference. “Use the mental picture of a mobile phone on wheels.”
The St. Louis-based X Prize Foundation, founded in 1995, awards prizes to teams completing specific goals. Bloomberg News; AP file photo
