Scientists at Carnegie
Mellon University have developed a robot which they plan to land on the
Moon to act as eyes for Earth-bound space enthusiasts.
The project is part of a $30m prize from Google offered to a team that can send video back from the moon.
The robot has already been shown to potential investors, including Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart.
It works in tandem with an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.
The three-man team from Carnegie Mellon has teamed up with space firm Astrobotics to compete for the Google Lunar XPrize, which requires a team to land a robot on the Moon, move it 500m and send back video to Earth.
Astrobotic Technology, which is a spin-off from Carnegie Mellon, has signed a deal with SpaceX - the private space company set up by Elon Musk - to use its Falcon 9 rocket to launch the robot. It is due to take off in 2016.
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