Google commissions a series of short films to document the race to put a robot on the Moon by Lunar Xprize competitors

Back in 2007, Google sponsored a $30 million prize for a privately funded mission called Lunar Xprize to ~~rescue Matt Damon~~ land a robot on the Moon, and send back images and videos as it makes its way around. It’s taken some time, but it seems like things are progressing nicely. To show how things are going, Google has commissioned a series of short films to document the journey of the teams competing for the prize, the trailer is available to view after the break.

Google has teamed up with some talented folk to produce the short films to follow nine of the teams, and to show the personal side of the competition, highlighting characters, the sacrifices made to get where they are today, and what drives them on. The hope is that the competition and films will inspire others to not only dream big but to try and achieve their dreams, however impossible it may seem at the beginning.

Academy Award®-nominated director Orlando von Einsiedel, Executive Producer J.J. Abrams, Bad Robot and Epic Digital have joined forces with Google and XPRIZE to create a documentary web series about the people competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE.

The main prize is $20 million, with prize money being given out for achieving various other milestones along the way. You can check out the trailer for the series of films below.