Google's Private Moon Landing Contest.

Google recently announced plans to offer up to $30 million to the first private organization that is able to safely land a robotic spacecraft on the Earth's moon.

Working alongside the X Prize Foundation -- a foundation known for offering challenges for monetary reward -- the contest will be open to any "nongovernmental entity" that is able to complete the mission.

Teams from around the world will vie for the Google Lunar X-Prize by building lunar missions complete with robotic rovers capable of roaming the surface of the moon for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and other data back to Earth, according to a statement from the X Prize Foundation.

Bonus prizes of upto $5 million will be awarded to teams that successfully complete additional mission tasks such as roving distances longer than 5,000 meters.

All zealed parties have until 2012 to complete the required tasks to collect the prize. If all teams are unable to complete the task, Google will extend the deadline to 2014, but the prize purse will also drop $5 million. Visit their site more info.