The X PRIZE foundation is dedicated to supporting radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. The Google Lunar X PRIZE aims to aid the next leap onto the Moon by awarding prizes from its 30 million dollar pool to the frist private companies successful in reaching the lunar surface, simply dubbed "Moon 2.0".

According to the competition rules a 90% privately funded team must successfully land an unmanned probe on the Moon, travel for a minimum of 500 meters from the landing site and send the so called 'Mooncast' back to Earth. This consists of high resolution 360° panoramic photographs of the lunar landscape, self portraits of the rover, near-real time videos of the journey of the vehicle, High Definition videos of lunar features and transmission of a cached set of data along with the newly recorded information.

The first team to accomplish the above will be awarded $20M form GLXP. The prize will be reduced to $15M if a government funded mission explores the lunar surface first, which is currently expected to happen in 2013. The second X prize entrant which fulfills all requirements will be rewarded with a sum of $5M. An additional $5M can be claimed by any group capable of imaging other man made artefacts on the Moon, roaming the lunar landscape for more than 5km, discovering water-ice or surviving the chilling lunar night. Prizes can be claimed until the end of 2015.

More info on the competition rules can be found on the GLXP website.