I believe it&#x27;s called &quot;sponsorship&quot;.<p>Audi is funding Part Time Scientists (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ptscientists.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ptscientists.com&#x2F;</a>), a team headed in part by NASA engineer Jack Crenshaw (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;jackcrenshaw.com&#x2F;work&#x2F;me-and-nasa&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;jackcrenshaw.com&#x2F;work&#x2F;me-and-nasa&#x2F;</a>), who worked on lunar trajectory calculations for the Apollo missions.<p>The PT team has already received milestone awards from the X Prize foundation for rover development and optical systems: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Google_Lunar_X_Prize#Terrestrial_Milestone_Prizes" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Google_Lunar_X_Prize#Terrestri...</a><p>The hard part of this mission, of course, is getting to the moon. This team is just working on the rover and its mission once it lands.<p>You&#x27;re probably right that they wont make it to the moon, but the purpose of the X Prize Foundation is to stimulate commercial interest in emerging fields and industries. Sounds to me like it&#x27;s working.