Today’s announcement by NASA of significant water on the south pole of the Moon is scientifically critical, economically astounding and extremely important for the long-term future of humanity. Further, this finding now defines the most “valuable real estate in the solar system.”

On October 9th, the LCROSS collision, run by NASA Ames, crashed into the depths of a permanently shadowed crater on the south pole of the Moon. From a scientific point of view, the debris plume resulting from this impact has been analyzed by scientists during the past month, and the results show a significant quantity of water. We now know that the water can be found in the permanently shadowed caters of the Lunar South Pole. This water is probably the remnants of comet collisions with the lunar surface. Likely there may be billions of tons of water, water that can be used to produce rocket fuel or to support future human outposts.

From an economic point of view, water on the Moon is the equivalent of finding “gold in the hills of California.” Translation… there is the potential for a California gold rush to hit the space nations in the years ahead. It may be that governments and/or companies will seek to be first to the ice-fields of the Lunar South Pole and make a claim. Read more of Peter's blog here.

On November 5, 2009, the X PRIZE Foundation along with NASA hosted the NGLLXPC 2009 awards ceremony in Washington D.C. Masten Space Systems, led by David Masten, was awarded the top $1 million prize, while Armadillo Aerospace, led by id Software founder John Carmack took home the second place prize of $500,000. The NGLLXPC is a partnership with NASA funding the $2 million in prize money as part of their Centennial Challenges program while the X PRIZE Foundation managed the competition which began in 2006. The $2 million prize purse, with part of it already awarded to Armadillo Aerospace in 2008, is the largest incentivized prize awarded by the X PRIZE Foundation since the winning of the $10M Ansari X PRIZE in 2004. Click here for more info.

Deputy Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Thomas Kalil has written a blog post referencing President Obama's Strategy for American Innovation which directs agencies to increase their use of incentive prizes as a tool for stimulating technological innovation. He goes on to outline the reasons why the White House is enthusiastic about prizes and discusses several current government agency prize initiatives including the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE and the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X PRIZE Challenge.