Google's Lunar X PRIZE competition seems to enjoy a high level of popularity, as two new teams entered the race, while Analytical Graphics Inc. rushed in to occupy the preferred partner position.
 

The little-over-a-year-old Lunar X PRIZE is a battle between an increasing number of teams in order to scoop the big prize of $20 million offered by Google. This event aims to encourage specialists from all over the world to join their efforts in producing low cost robotic devices for space exploration. Two new teams, "Omega Envoy," comprised of students from the University of Central Florida, US and "Independence-X Aerospace" from Malaysia have recently entered the competition.
 

As the press release associated to the event states, "To win the Grand Prize, a team must successfully soft land a privately funded spacecraft on the Moon, rove on the lunar surface for a minimum of 500 meters, and transmit a specific set of video, images and data back to the Earth. The Grand Prize is $20 million until December 31st 2012; thereafter it will drop to $15 million until December 31st 2014." There is also a second prize of $5 million, for which "a team must land their spacecraft on the Moon, rove and transmit data back to Earth [...] until December 31st 2014." Additional prizes may be won "by successfully completing additional mission tasks such as roving longer distances (> 5,000 meters), imaging man made artifacts (e.g. Apollo hardware), discovering water ice, and/or surviving through a frigid lunar night (approximately 14.5 Earth days)."
 

The newly-elected preferred partner, Analytical Graphics Inc. (AGI), will endorse each of the teams with adjacent engineering and software services in value of about $200.000. "AGI’s software is unsurpassed and will bring critical new capabilities to the competing teams," stated Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, X PRIZE Foundation's chairman and CEO, adding that "This modeling and visualization software will be a great asset for the teams."