Latest XPRIZE offers $7M for teams that can map seafloor

摘要

The XPRIZE Foundation will offer $7 million in a three-year competition for breakthrough oceanic mapping technologies to explore the seafloor, an area that remains a "mystery to us," said Peter Diamandis, chairman of the foundation. The contest, called the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE -- Royal Dutch Shell PLC is sponsoring the competition -- requires teams to create high-definition maps of at least 200 square miles of the ocean floor using robots. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also has pledged $1 million to the team that discovers technology to detect sources of pollution, leaks and chemical spills and to monitor marine life.