How does the X PRIZE Foundation and the recently founded Singularity University fit together?
Both organizations are focused on future breakthroughs. While the X PRIZE Foundation is in the business of clearly defining and articulating these challenges, the Singularity University (www.singularityU.org) is focused on attracting and educating the graduate students who will ultimately form the teams to competing in these future X PRIZEs. How do the recent water-findings on the Moon affect the Google Lunar X PRIZE? Today’s launch costs are unfortunately extremely expensive. On the average it costs something on the order of $20,000 per pound to get supplies into low-Earth orbit (where the Int’l Space Station is located) and, optimistically 10x to 20x that cost, or approximately $400,000 per pound, to land something on the Moon’s surface. So the cost of transporting water to the lunar surface, or oxygen, or hydrogen is about $400,000 per pound or $25,000 per ounce… about twenty-five times the price of gold today! Revealing water in significant quantities on the Moon could truly be a
