To boldly go where no conglomerate has gone before

Search engine? Check. E-mail carrier? Check. Investor in multi-million dollar moon missions?

Surprisingly, check.

Los Angeles Times reported on Sept. 14 that Google Inc. is backing a $30 million planned lunar space race called "Google Lunar X PRIZE," a competition geared toward enterprising robot-philes itching to launch rockets into the vast blackness of space.

An excerpt from the article:
"The international competition challenges entrants to land a robotic vehicle on the moon, have it travel at least 500 meters and beam video images and other data back to Earth. The first company to win the private-sector space race by 2012 would take home $20 million."

Here's a press conference introducing the Google-sponsored competition:



Of course, this is the first non-government-subsidized space exploration project since SpaceShipOne captured the $10-million Ansari X Prize after climbing 377,591 feet (or about 17.5 miles) in 2004.

The reason? Google hopes to spark a "commercial revolution," wherein other corporations would take the proverbial cosmic plunge and sponsor more robotic space expeditions.

It's actually a fantastic idea: Why should the increasingly impatient private-sector idle away while NASA plods along launching hit-or-miss missions? Instead, why not quadruple the manpower, trigger a global revolution and get humanity spacebound faster than before? Can you just imagine the conversations in 100 years once manned missions become as commonplace as bike-riding?

Son: Hey, Ma! I'm goin' to Pluto. See ya at 5:00.
Mother: Wear a sweater, honey. It's chilly.

Now, Google staking millions toward a robot-versus-robot contest is peculiar considering the funding comes from an unconventional source, but we should first remember how the billion-dollar corporation is paving inroads for the Web 2.0 movement. They've progressed from mediocre search engine to e-mail client to Froogle to Google Earth, a software granting users free-license to trek through dazzling 3D renderings of our globe's most far-flung regions.

Doesn't it seem that bankrolling space competitions is the next evolutionary step?

Image courtesy www.xprize.org