ACEIZE Tracking the current state of Science and Technology

I was about to got through the list of Google Lunar X Prize contestants and post them on aceize. I may still do that. But for the moment, Google has a nicely published list at http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams.

There are twenty teams involved in the competition today. Some are pretty interesting! One of the teams is called 'CHANDRA' for instance. It is clearly a team of one guy. From the description :

CHANDAH (meaning “Moon” in Sanskrit) is a personal initiative born out of a chance reading of the Google Lunar X PRIZE press release about 6 weeks back. After reading the press release I got very excited and started my research in earnest– which ultimately led me to request this package. Subsequently, I have ordered about 25 books on the technical, commercial, and regulatory aspects of the space industry and various initiatives that are in the process of being unveiled by NASA and the private companies, both in US and abroad.

ARCA

There is a team from Romania with a spherical robot design. Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association (ARCA). At least I hope their robot is spherical. Their robot is pictured. These folks were also involved in the Anasari X-Prize. For this lunar mission, the ACRA folks are using a balloon launched rocket. Their original rocket for that launch is called the Haas. It is pictured below. They have replaced the rocket with a more aerodynamic cylindrical shape.

Team Italia has a nice looking spider robot:

Part-Time-Scientists
Is a German based team that wants to enable earth-moon communication without the need for government assistance. Average Age -- 20 something.

Of the 16 other teams, several seem to be in the competition for other reasons such as self promotion. There are a few other teams that have been put together with a true business focus comprised of experienced engineers. A couple others are looking to develop a specific part of the technology, such as the Part-Time-Scientists group.