Abstract :
Soon. Earth may send a stream of robotic probes to the moon, as a new· race to our ´eighth continent´ is heating up. This time. though, the running will not be made by government-led ´agencies like NASA and ESA. Instead, private companies are , leading the way. with tech giant Google´ providing the incentives. Spurring ´ inventors from around the world is a $30m reward, the Google Lunar XPrize. The mission: to successfully deploy a robotic craft on the lunar surface; make it move at least 500 metres, and send high-definition ´mooncasts´ back to Earth.
