10 Teams Sure They Have the Right Stuff for Google’s $30M Moon Shot

Ten teams from around the world have signed up to compete for the Google Lunar X Prize, a robotic race to to the moon with a $30 million purse. The basic rules are simple: Teams will compete to be the first to land a privately funded robotic craft on the moon, have it tool around on the surface for at least 500 meters and send images, video and data back to Earth. As far as the contest is concerned, the robot’s trip is a one-way vacation — no need to get the bot back to our blue planet.