http://space.xprize.org/

Why the Moon?

We live in a unique two world environment - the Earth-Moon System. Earth’s offshore island the Moon is a stepping stone to the rest of the Solar System and a source of solutions to some of the most pressing environmental problems that we face on the Earth.

The Moon is the closest source of materials for doing anything in space. Right now we have to bring every single bit of material that we need for space operations at great expense from the bottom of the Earth’s deep gravity well.

However, it’s 22 times easier to launch from the Moon than from the Earth. The lack of an atmosphere on the moon also makes it possible to launch materials from the moon using electric motors rather than expensive rockets.

The moon is more than 40% oxygen by weight. Oxygen is the main component of rocket propellant. Much of the rest of lunar soil is silicon (useful for making solar cells) and metals like aluminum and iron. Thanks to the rock and soil return by Apollo astronauts and recent robotic probes we now have detailed knowledge of our nearest neighbor in space.

Clean solar energy can be sent from space to the earth with solar collectors in high Earth orbit made from lunar materials. A single solar power satellite could power a major Earth city without CO2 or other pollution. Since these systems provide power at night, energy from power satellites could charge electric cars, generate hydrogen from water, or make synthetic fuels for cars or aircraft during nighttime off-peak power times.

The moon is so close to the Earth (1.3 seconds for radio or light) that people can directly control lunar robots and other machines from Earth.

Once lunar materials are available for construction in space we can overcome many of the limits to space exploration that we currently take for granted. For example:

We can shield astronauts from cosmic and solar radiation

We can use beamed power to enable fast transportation in the solar system 

We can build large telescopes and other astronomical tools to learn much more about the universe and how it came to be.

We can protect the Earth from the threat of impacts from asteroids and comets

In addition to using lunar materials to build solar power satellites we can collect energy on the moon’s surface and transmit it to the Earth. Eventually we may also collect Helium 3 trapped in moon soil which is an ideal low-radiation fusion fuel.
read more at: http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/education/why-the-moon

Today, we announce a new game of skill we call MoonBots.

A partnership between the X PRIZE Foundation, Google, LEGO MINDSTORMS, National Instruments, and 's GeekDad blog, MoonBots will require 6-member teams of both children and adults to essentially conduct Google Lunar X PRIZE missions using LEGO components. For more information about the contest, check out our post on the Launch Pad or the MoonBots homepage!
read more at: http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/

Tour the Moon in Google Earth

On July 20, 2009, our friends at Google released Moon in Google Earth, a free and intuitive piece of software that allows users to see stunning data from five decades of lunar missions in context and in the highest qualities possible. More than ever before, the rest of us will be able to recreate the experiences of the 24 men who orbited around or landed on the surface of our celestial neighbor.

As you explore this new software package, we hope you’ll also take the Google Lunar X PRIZE tour. Simply download this file to your computer and open it the new Google Earth, and you’ll be whisked away on a tour of the lunar surface with X PRIZE Founder Peter Diamandis and with X PRIZE Trustee and second generation astronaut Richard Garriott. They will use the software to imagine what we’ll all be watching in the near future, projecting the preliminary designs published by our teams onto the lunar surface. This tour is a rough draft, and will be revised and updated as often as possible to give you the best information about this new race back to the Moon.

read more at: http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/

Team LunaTrex Talk to the Space Fellowship About Rockets, Rovers and GLXP Rules

By Rob GoldsmithPublished: 10 August 2009 9:32 AM CEST

After The Google Lunar X Prize was announced the Space Fellowship spent much of the coming months speaking to teams and finding out how they planned on beating one another to the Moon. One of the teams that was kind enough to discuss their plans, and perhaps one of the most interesting teams, was Team LunaTrex.

LunaTrex was formed in 2008 as a team comprising several individuals, companies, and universities from all over the country (USA) who bring the needed skills, talents, vision, and experience together to pursue the noble goals set out by the Google Lunar X PRIZE.

Speaking with the team in March 2008 the LunaTrex team leader Pete Bitar gave an in-depth interview with the Space Fellowship. Over a year on from that interview the Space Fellowship have spoken to the team again to see how the past 18 months have gone.

LunaTrex

Last time we spoke with Pete we asked him about the potential of Ion propulsion, Pete had told us  ”We are not necessarily choosing ion propulsion, but likely either that or Hall effect thrusters, or some form of electric propulsion” I wanted to know how this was developing or if it had been refined, Pete updated me.

“We are refining the idea, based on available launches and launch slots, and also based on what we will hear, hopefully soon, from the XPF (X PRIZE Foundation) and Google, regarding the final rules for the competition. That said, if we can get an affordable launch to TLI (Trans Lunar Injection), it will change our requirements for electric propulsion. However, based on a LEO (Low Earth Orbit) launch, we are still eyeing that approach”.

Read more at:
http://spacefellowship.com/2009/08/10/team-lunatrex-talk-to-the-space-fellowship-about-rockets-rovers-and-glxp-rules/