Google's Lunar Lure - $30M For Private Landing (VIDEO)

Google and the X-Prize Foundation have launched a contest offering $12 million to the first group to perform a series of tasks on a private moon landing. The contest will run until 2012, at which time the winner will receive their prize, and the second-place prize of $5 million will be awarded as well. In order to win, the rovers must travel 500m, take photos and videos of certain objects and areas and collect specific data.

“Google said it would give bonuses of $5m if the rovers complete other objectives such as travelling further on the Moon, taking pictures of Apollo hardware, finding water-ice and surviving the freezing lunar night,” the BBC News reported.

“Rovers taking part must be fitted with high-definition video and still cameras.” BBC quoted the chairman of X-Prize, “We are confident that teams from around the world will help develop new robotic and virtual presence technology, which will dramatically reduce the cost of space exploration.”

Watch the video to discover the secret way to access “Google Moon.” Trend Hunter has featured Google secrets before, including the hidden flight simulator:

Google’s Hidden Flight Simulator - Google Earth Goggles (VIDEO)

A simple flight simulator was hidden in the new version of Google Earth. The secret lets you pilot either an F16 fighter or an SR22 prop plane to add a cool twist on viewing Google Earth’s images. Just press Crtl+Alt+A from within Google Earth, and say, “Bon voyage!” [More]