Staff Blog

February 22, 2012 - By Leo Camacho

"Abundance" Hits Number 1!

Founder and Chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation, Peter Diamandis, is considered a forerunner in the advancement of science and technology. In his latest work he flexes his literary muscle to put a positive spin on the near-future of mankind with the global implications of cutting-edge technology through user accessibility. The highly-anticipated book titled "Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think," hit stores Monday and debuted as #1 on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble, met by ecstatically positive reviews. Here is a review excerpt from the Amazon Description Summary:

February 16, 2012 - By Leo Camacho

The New Online Community Guy: First Impressions

It's time for my first blog post and I figure the best way to start things off is by introducing myself. Hello, my name is Leo Camacho and, for all intents and purposes, I am the new online social community manager for Google Lunar X PRIZE. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have this position and I come into it knowing full well that I have some pretty massive shoes to fill... metaphorically of course. My predecessor, Amanda Stiles, is rather tiny and therefore has equally tiny shoes.

A little about myself.

February 10, 2012 - By Amanda Stiles

The New GLXP Online Community Overlord... er, Manager: Welcome, Leo!

I first stepped into X PRIZE and began my new adventure as the online community manager for the Google Lunar X PRIZE exactly 2 years + 162 days ago. Now, after countless tweets and updates, a few Moonpies, and thousands of new friends and fans later, I would just like to say please no more Moonpies? THANK YOU to all of you for your support, contributions, and funny cat pictures over the past couple of years. I’ll always have fond memories of Friday Fun Days (#FFD), fan photos, and that one time that we named the Moon “Todd” (which apparently still tweets? Huh.). Anyway, it is with both a bit of nostalgia and much excitement that I am now passing the torch on to the next GLXP online community manager, who I know will have just as much fun with this role as I did.

January 3, 2012 - By Amanda Stiles

Happy 2012: What's New + We're Hiring!

Happy New Year, everyone! We hope you all had an out-of-this-world holiday season.

The GLXP HQ team is back in the office and gearing up for all the great things that we have planned for the competition in 2012. Change is in the air, and I have several really exciting announcements about our team:

December 24, 2011 - By Amanda Stiles

Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays, friends and fans! 2011 was a fantastic year for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, and we look forward to launching toward the 5th year (can you believe it?!) of the competition with the 26 teams in 2012. We'll be adding new members to the GLXP staff so that we can properly prep for the next few years of the prize (we will be standing by, ready for action when teams announce that they're going to liftoff for the Moon!) -- and definitely expect to see some important developments happening with all of the teams worldwide next year.

We're grateful to have so many fantastic folks following the Prize and the teams. We wish all of you the best over the holidays, and can't wait to share the exciting GLXP events and adventures of 2012 with you!

December 14, 2011 - By Amanda Stiles

GLXP on Google+

A few weeks ago, Google unleashed its Google+ pages to companies and brands. So we're excited to announce that the Google Lunar X PRIZE Google+ page is now up and running! You can now add us to your circles for news about the competition and the teams, and maybe even the occasional Moon news. And by occasional, of course I mean non-stop. Plus (haha?), we're looking forward to all of the cool spacey media that you share with us!

Check out the GLXP page here, and stay tuned for upcoming events -- we hope to start hosting some hangouts after the start of the year and other fun activities.

November 10, 2011 - By Mitch Aiken

MoonBots 2.0 Winners Destination: Kennedy Space Center

This year’s winning MoonBots team, the LEGO® Aces from Granville, Ohio were treated to a VIP tour of Kennedy Space Center as part of their Grand Prize Experience. Their day included touring NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building, seeing the Space Shuttle Endeavour close up, and meeting a three-time shuttle astronaut!

November 8, 2011 - By Mitch Aiken

MoonBots 2.0 Winners Destination: LEGOLAND® Florida

The MoonBots 2.0 grand prize trip to LEGOLAND® Florida took place in mid-October. This year’s winning MoonBots team, the LEGO® Aces from Granville, Ohio were treated to a pre-opening day VIP tour of the park and participated in grand opening events. The prize experience also included a VIP trip to Kennedy Space Center which will be detailed in an upcoming blog. Stay tuned!

October 28, 2011 - By Amanda Stiles

SEDS SpaceVision Conference Kicks Off w/ Bill Nye

Greetings from Boulder, Colorado! I am currently at the annual Students for Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) conference, SpaceVision 2011. For those unfamiliar, SEDS is a student-run organization that was founded by Peter Diamandis (XPF CEO), Bob Richards (CEO of Moon Express), and Todd Hawley back in 1980. Like so many of us, they wanted to go to space someday -- so they started a student club to bring together young people who were passionate and ambitious about space exploration. As stated on seds.org: "SEDS believes in a space-faring civilization and that focusing the enthusiasm of young people is the key to our future in space."

October 26, 2011 - By Amanda Stiles

Why do YOU Prize Exploration? Share & You Could Win!

Have you noticed something new on this website in the past few weeks? We'll give you a hint: if you scroll to the bottom, you'll notice a new logo. That's right, Shell has officially come onboard as a sponsor of the Exploration Prize Group at the X PRIZE Foundation. So far the Google Lunar X PRIZE is the only active prize in the Exploration Prize Group, but that is likely to change in the near future. From the depths of the oceans to the reaches of space (and everything in between), X PRIZE has many ambitions to encourage explorers around the world to go forth and discover the secrets of uncharted areas.