Google bankrolls $30M moon contest

Nearly 40 years after the USA beat the Soviets to the moon Internet giant Google said Thursday it will give $20 million to the first private group to land a roving robot on the lunar surface — a prize likely to start a 21st-century space race.

The giant purse is being offered by the X-Prize Foundation, which awarded $10 million in 2005 to the first privately funded group to launch a human into space.