Florida is offering a $2 million incentive to encourage entrants in the Google Lunar X Prize to launch their robotic rover from the state. The money would be in addition to the $20 million prize being offered by Google and the X Prize Foundation for the first private group to land a spacecraft on the moon by the end of 2010. Ten organizations have registered for the competition.

The CBC show The Hour recently interviewed Dr. Bob Richards, the founder and CEO of Odyssey Moon. Richards’ team was the first entrant in the Lunar X Prize, a competition to land a privately funded rover on the Moon by 2012. Dr. Richards discusses his company’s plans as well as the prospects for future human settlement and economic development on the lunar surface.