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Produced by Abrams and directed by documentary filmmaker Orlando
von Einsiedel ("Virunga"), the series chronicles some of the 16
teams vying for $30 million in prizes for landing and operating
a privately developed robotic spacecraft on the moon before Dec.
31, 2017.
"The teams ... range from Silicon Valley tech experts, to
hackers in Germany, to IT specialists in India, to a father and
son (working) in a spare bedroom in Vancouver," the X Prize
Foundation, which organized the competition, said in a
statement.
So far only the government-run space programs of the United
States, the former Soviet Union and China have landed spacecraft
on the moon.
Abrams' nine-part series, called "Moon Shot," offers an overview
of the Google Lunar X Prize contest and follows individual
members from several of the teams, according to X Prize
spokesman Eric Desatnik.
Each film is seven minutes long. The entire series debuts on
March 15 on Google Play and on March 17 on YouTube. In addition
to his work on the latest "Star Wars" movie blockbuster, Abrams'
directing credits include the first two films in a reboot of the
"Star Trek" big-screen franchise.
Google paid for the documentary project, a partnership of
Abrams' production company Bad Robot and Epic Digital. Terms of
the deal were not disclosed.
The Google Lunar X Prize is intended to spur commercial
development of lunar exploration. It is one of 13 competitions
sponsored by the California-based X Prize organization to
stimulate technological developments that address a wide-range
of environmental, social and medical challenges.
(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Steve Gorman and Sandra
Maler)
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