infoworld has article on talk by google

Google Asks NASA to Work With the Public

Infoworld has an article on a talk by Google CEO Eric Schmidt about

NASA's 50th anniversary:

Schmidt praised programs such as NASA's Centennial Challenge, which

awards cash prizes to inventors that come up with solutions to the

agency's needs. Last year, NASA awarded $200,000 to Peter Horner, an

unemployed engineer from Maine, who created a new space glove using a

common rubber glove.

Google has sponsored the X Prize Foundation, an organization that runs

similar competitions, with an award of up to $30 million for a group

that can design and launch a lunar lander with a robotic explorer on

board. In many cases, the teams competing for the prize in these types

of competitions spend more than the total prize money, but the public

awards spur competition, Schmidt said.