J.J. Abrams is clearly a space exploration enthusiast, just look at his resumé: Star Trek, Star Wars, even Super 8 had an alien. But he's taken his space enthusiasm to new levels.
Abrams' production company, Google, YouTube and XPRIZE have teamed up to document Google Lunar XPRIZE, a space race that began in 2007. The competition involves teams from around the world trying to successfully land a robot on the surface of the Moon.
According to the The Google Lunar XPRIZE press release, this is the largest prize competition of all time. It's meant to incentivize entrepreneurs to create a new era of affordable access to the Moon and beyond.
For a team to win, their spacecraft must meet a fair few guidelines. And should they succeed, the $30 million purse will be divided as follows:
The competition's $30 million prize purse will be awarded to teams who are able to land a privately funded rover on the moon, travel 500 meters, and transmit back high definition video and images. The first team that successfully completes this mission will be awarded the $20 million dollar Grand Prize. The second team to successfully complete the mission will be awarded $5 million dollars.
Sixteen privately funded teams from around the globe are currently competing, and the mission deadline is December 31, 2017.
Abrams and crew documented nine of the sixteen different teams for Moon Shot, a web series consisting of nine "short films." Each film is less than seven minutes long.
The teams range from Silicon Valley tech experts, to hackers in Germany, to IT specialists in India, to a father and son in a spare bedroom in Vancouver.
All nine episodes of Moon Shot will debut on Google Play on March 15, and on YouTube on March 17.
To learn more about GoogleLunarXPRIZE, check out their website.
