Quoting from the website.
By Irene Klotz
CAPE CANAVERAL— Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, a Carnegie Mellon University spin-off company, has signed a launch services contract with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) for a Falcon 9 rocket to deliver a lander, small rover and up to about 240 lb. of payload to the surface of the Moon, the company announced Feb. 6.
Terms of the contract were not disclosed. Falcon 9 rockets cost between $49.9 million for low Earth orbit missions and $56 million for flights carrying 4,680 kg. (10,320 lb.) to geotransfer orbit, according to SpaceX’s website. The company offers a 10% discount to contenders in the Google Lunar X Prize, a competition intended to kindle private space missions.
Astrobotic, which is among 21 teams vying for $30 million in X Prize funds, will use the Falcon 9’s upper stage for a four-day flight to the Moon. The earliest launch date is December 2013.
The landing site, originally targeted for the Sea of Tranquility near where Apollo 11 touched down, is up for grabs, as is the name of the spacecraft, once called Artemis, and the name and destinations of the 1.5-meter tall, 1-meter wide rover
This is quite awesome if it can be achieved and they can bring back actual high resolution photos of the lunar landing sites and the leftovers from the Apollo missions in the 70’s. Then we can defeat all the naysayers that say we never went to the moon. it is only 351,000 KM from the Earth to the Moon and I am sure they can more easily manage the journey with modern technology versus the tech that was around in 1969, although they do not have Werner Von Braun the rocket scientist who developed the V2 rocket and worked with NASA on the Saturn 5 project. Once the robot probe get’s to the Moon it will be an incredible experience looking up at the Moon at night and knowing that something mankind created is moving around up there and doing research that will provide more information about the Moons surface. I can not wait.