Do you think you can get a robot on the moon for under 20 mil? Then you might want to try for the Lunar X Prize for First Robot on the Moon. The project is spearheaded by the X Prize Foundation and the prize money — 20 million bucks to the 1st place team, 30 million in total awards — will come out of Google’s pocket.

Lunar X takes the government out of the space race and puts it into the hands of private teams. The winners must safely land the robot on the moon, navigate over 500 meters of lunar terrain, and relay live moon videos back to Earth. The team must also get the mission accomplished by the end of 2012 in order to win the full award. Easy as moon pie!

Is 20 million dollars enough to recoup the costs of this mission? I don’t know. In this case, these companies are vying for something way cooler — intergalactic recognition.

Read over the guidelines and get an application over at the X Prize Foundation. Good luck.

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