Google and Israeli Nonprofit May Be Heading to the Moon

Tired of waiting for NASA to get its Apollo-era mojo back and start putting spacecraft on the lunar surface again? Then you’ll be happy to know that Israel—with some help from Google—is about to show the moon a little love.

At a 12:45 p.m. press conference in Jerusalem Wednesday (5:45 a.m. ET), Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, along with representatives of Google and SpaceIL, a nonprofit Israeli space engineering company, announced that SpaceIL is the first of 16 contestants in Google’s Lunar XPrize competition to formalize its plans to land a private spacecraft on the moon before the end of 2017.

To claim the $20 million jackpot, the winner must not just land, but travel at least 500 meters and send back video and high-definition pictures.