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The Google Lunar X Prize...What is the Value, Besides Prestige for the Winner?

By Jeff Krukin, Posted 04/28/09

Original written 19 March 2008

lunar lander The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a $30 million international competition to safely land a robot on the Moon, travel 500 meters, and transmit images and data back to Earth. Unlike previous decades where space activity was largely government-funded, companies and organizations are responding to challenges like this and demonstrating that space exploration is no longer limited to multi-billion dollar programs.

Other than the prestige of winning and the respect earned even if you place second (after all, it is a tremendous accomplishment), what other value can be gained from competing for this prize? As part of a committee evaluating the creation of a university-led team to compete for the prize, I've had some valuable insights.
How can students, companies, and organizations benefit from their participation, regardless of whether the team wins or loses? Consider the following challenges:

    * How should funds, people, and resources be split across research and development (R&D) for designing new technologies (certainly of interest to engineering students) vs. buying commercially available off-the-shelf components (more likely to reduce the time required to get to the launch date)?
    * In the context of the preceding bullet, should the effort be viewed primarily as an engineering education, a business decision-making education (how to be first to market, which is the launch in this case), or a combination of both?
    * With the potential for multiple companies, organizations and universities as sponsors and participants, how will diverse interests be accommodated? Imagine this real-world learning experience for tomorrow's engineers and business leaders.
    * What is the ultimate goal? Winning at all costs? Developing systems and components that can become commercially viable products, regardless of whether the team wins or loses? Visibility and prestige for the sponsors? Again we have potentially divisive goals... and a fabulous learning experience for students.

I'm sure you can think of many more challenges and the benefits thereof. When it's all said and done, when the winner's limelight fades as it eventually must, keep your eye on the teams that didn't win. The wiser teams will learn a great deal just by competing and will become players in the space economy. Talk about value.

Comments

Look to those Teams for the Value Too!

From: Richard Mains, 05/05/09

Krukin ponders the lasting benefits that might accrue to the winners and all competitors for the "Lunar X Prize":http://www.googlelunarxprize.org beyond fame and he votes for the education and hands-on training of the participants. A short "video":http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/about-the-prize/introductory-video provides an excellent update on the prize if you need one as well as a free adrenalin rush. Now I agree with Krukin’s basic view here but think there is also a broader benefit to what some call the “Moon 2.0” global competition. To me the endeavor seems almost the antithesis of NASA’s programmatic approach to Lunar Exploration which is to set requirements and then get competitive bids to meeting them even though all know they are very fuzzy. The basic Moon 2.0 challenge is simple and straightforward (land a rover on the moon, travel a certain distance, send back data to Earth) but the path to winning is wide open with prize payments only for the victors. There are now about 18 teams based in various countries, but many are international in their internal structure, including one based on the Isle of Man. Thus international collaborations are naturally built-in by teams trying to figure out the “best” way to win. Also, the Lunar X Prize site clearly profiles each team and its top-level strategy and provides an online discussion forum to foster discussions on topics of joint interest. What I see resulting from this is a major catalyst to space commerce that will create a new, international and flexible infrastructure and innovative way of delivering product, as defined and on schedule. There is every motivation to do it at the lowest cost, as well since each team is investing in its future business. Yes, education and training of the participants will be the reward, but creation of new enterprises in which they all have a stake may be the gold medal they all can share.