X Prize 4 - Great Nephew of X Prize

For those of you who don't know, the original I'm talking about X Prize was a ten million dollar prize for the first privately funded craft to travel into space twice within a fortnight. It was won by SpaceShipOne, a 60s sci fi looking craft designed by Burt Rutan.

The whole point of the X Prize is that it's a catalyst to forward human endevour (something I'm in favour of) as a clear illustration of that, the original X Prize was ten million dollars. SpaceShipOne though, cost one hundred million dollars - so an accountant would tell you that it wasn't worth it. Which is because accountants are stupid and have broken minds.

Anyway, the fourth X Prize is being sponsored by Google, and offers up to 30 million dollars to the first private venture to put a robotic vehicle on the moon, drive it around and do some bunny hops. So yesterday, the Google Lunar X Prize had it's first official entrant. OdysseyMoon are a private company created specifically for the purpose of entering the X Prize, and are from the Isle of Man. That's right. The island that gave you cats with no tails and that funny flag with all the legs on it will soon be putting a robot car on the moon.

I can't wait for the next entrants!