Google Backs Private Moon Landing With Google Lunar X PRIZE

It has nothing to do with organizing the world’s information — but I don’t care, it’s pretty cool. Google’s backing a private moon landing. In particular, it’s putting up $30 million for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a contest for private landings on the moon.

Can you land a craft that will roam for 500 meters and transmit back to earth? Do it first and before 2013, and $20 million could be yours. Check out the exact rules here.

FYI, Google’s already got one moon project already going, Google Moon, a map of the moon that went live back in July 2005. That’s been updated now with an all new version in conjunction with today’s announcement. Google Mars followed in March 2006, then Google Sky opened up viewing the stars and universe just last month.

For more coverage as people react, just out the Techmeme roundup.

Related Topics: Google: Earth | Google: General | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Marketing


About The Author: is editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land. He’s a widely cited authority on search engines and search marketing issues who has covered the space since 1996. Danny also oversees Search Engine Land’s SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series. He maintains a personal blog called Daggle (and maintains his disclosures page there). He can be found on Facebook, Google + and microblogs on Twitter as @dannysullivan.

Connect with the author via: Email | Twitter | Google+ | LinkedIn


SMX - Search Marketing Expo

SearchCap:

Get all the top search stories emailed daily!  

Like This Story? Please Share!

Other ways to share:

Like Our Site? Follow Us!

Subscribe to Our Feed! Join our LinkedIn Group Check out our Tumblr! See us on Pinterest Get Search Engine Land on your mobile device!
 

Read before commenting! We welcome constructive comments and allow any that meet our common sense criteria. This means being respectful and polite to others. It means providing helpful information that contributes to a story or discussion. It means leaving links only that substantially add further to a discussion. Comments using foul language, being disrespectful to others or otherwise violating what we believe are common sense standards of discussion will be deleted. You can read more about our comments policy here.
  • tagvine

    That’s what you call linkbaiting at the $30 million level =)

  • http://www.googlepackdownload.info/ romualdas

    Nice.

    What’s the next thing Google will want to sponsor? Mars exploration?

  • http://www.foursquareinnovations.co.uk/training.html Chris Boswell

    What a novel idea – don’t think I’ll get far though, with just a washing-up liquid bottle and some cellotape.

    I always thought McDonalds would make it to the moon first and that there’d end up being be a pair of golden arches somewhere on the lunar landscape.

    I’m getting an Adwords ad for buying property on the moon showing upon this page which reminds me of the debate over whether land claims on the moon and the planets are sustainable in law. Some folks are obviously willing to take the risk for the kudos of a lunar address. I bet if you look hard enough you can even set up a virtual office with a lunar address, and sell your wares for a lunar currency in lunar measurements. Maybe not.

  • http://www.sanfranciscoconsult.com/editorials/eng BiCultural Surfin’ Mama

    Yeah, cool and scary news. Google going after the moon instead of governements doing so. Sounds like aspirations to world domination to me! ;-)

    Danny, I actually was worried you’d been kidnapped by the Google police the past few weeks as I saw no new podcast episodes appear…

    Because you’re one of those able to understand and help us see the extent of Google’s power these days- and to me that’s something we should actively be considering the implications of. (Nice sentence)

    Can we secretly come up with a code word in your podcast to let us know when the Google police tells you they’re going to cut your throat if you continue talking about their potential privacy concerns? You can send it to me as a comment on the San Francisco Consulting blog. ;-)
    Hear you soon!

Get Our News, Everywhere!

 
  • Advertise With Us
 

Click to watch SMX conference video

Join us at an upcoming SMX event:

North America

EMEA

APAC

Search Engine Land produces SMX, the Search Marketing Expo conference series. SMX events deliver the most comprehensive educational and networking experiences - whether you're just starting in search marketing or you're a seasoned expert.

SMX Site » | SMX Difference » | SMX News »



 

Search Engine Land Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors

Get Your Copy
Read The Full SEO Guide