Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
jbuck@nasa.gov
Alan Zack
X Prize Foundation, Playa Vista, Calif.
310-741-4880
alan.zack@xprize.org
WASHINGTON -- NASA and the X Prize
Foundation of Playa Vista, Calif., announced Thursday the Google Lunar X Prize
is recognizing guidelines established by NASA to protect lunar historic sites
and preserve ongoing and future science on the moon. The foundation will take
the guidelines into account as it judges mobility plans submitted by 26 teams
vying to be the first privately-funded entity to visit the moon.
NASA recognizes that many spacefaring
nations and commercial entities are on the verge of landing spacecraft on the
moon. The agency engaged in a cooperative dialogue with the X Prize Foundation
and the Google Lunar X Prize teams to develop the recommendations. NASA and the
next generation of lunar explorers share a common interest in preserving
humanity's first steps on another celestial body and protecting ongoing science
from the potentially damaging effects of nearby landers.
NASA assembled the guidelines using data
from previous lunar studies and analysis of the unmanned lander Surveyor 3's
samples after Apollo 12 landed nearby in 1969. Experts from the historic,
scientific and flight-planning communities also contributed to the technical
recommendations. The guidelines do not represent mandatory U.S. or
international requirements. NASA provided them to help lunar mission planners
preserve and protect historic lunar artifacts and potential science
opportunities for future missions.
The Google Lunar X Prize will award $30
million total in prizes. First place will go to a privately-funded team that
builds a rover which lands successfully on the moon, explores it by moving at
least one third of a mile and returns high-definition video and imagery to
Earth.
Additional bonus prizes will be awarded
for photographing a Lunar Heritage, Apollo or Surveyor spacecraft site. The
contest ends whenever all prizes are claimed or at the end of 2015.
To view the full set of guidelines,
visit http://go.nasa.gov/JDYo9v.
For more information about the X Prize
Foundation, visit http://www.xprize.org.
For more information about the Google
Lunar X Prize, visit http://www.googlelunarxprize.org.
For a lunar exploration timeline, visit
http://go.nasa.gov/Mk2Ms7.
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