14 DAY TRIAL // A private space race to put robots on the Moon received a new chief recently. The announcement was made yesterday, July 11, by the X-Prize Foundation. The Google Lunar X Prize will from now on be led by Alexandra Hall, who is a space science veteran.
The expert will act as the senior director of the initiative, which is a collaboration supported by the Foundation and Google. The $30 million private race pits a relatively large number of teams against each other, with the purpose of discovering cheap technologies for space exploration.
Before being elected to the top position in the X Prize, Hall was the CEO of Airship Ventures, and also a co-founder of the company. The corporation was founded in order to conduct passenger, scientific and media-related flights using zeppelins.
After that, Hall also held an appointment as the executive director of the Oakland, California-based Chabot Space & Science Center. She was also a host of the BBC Television show “Final Frontier,” and holds a degree in astrophysics from the University of Leicester, in the UK.
The expert will now be managing the 29 teams that have until 2015 to send a rocket to the Moon, land a rover or lander, and travel more than 500 meters (1,650 feet) on the celestial body's surface. The total purse is $30 million, but $20 millions are reserved for the team that achieves this objective first.
The Google Lunar X Prize can end whenever a team accomplishes these objectives. The year 2015 is the last deadline for the competition. What organizers are interested in is the images that the rovers or landers sent on the Moon relay back to Earth.
“I believe that solving today's global challenges requires us to think beyond that which is just outside our window. Potential solutions to the many problems close to home exist with the development of resources in space,” Hall explains, quoted by Space.
“Alexandra has proven to be a leader and entrepreneur in the aviation and space industries,” adds Robert Weiss, who is the vice chairman and president of the X Prize Foundation.
“Her breadth of experience and passion for space exploration are key to attaining our goal of igniting this new and exciting race to the Moon,” the expert says in a statement.
Endeavors such as the X Prize are extremely beneficial to the space industry, because they help highlight innovative technologies that can bring the goal of space exploration closer than ever before.
Traditionally, missions to the Moon cost many hundred million dollars, and take years to design, construct, test and launch. The advancements reached by the X Prize teams could change all that. Conceivably, Mars could be the next destination for the X Prize Foundation.