Google Moon Landing

Google is sponsoring the Google Lunar X Prize, a competition with $30 million prizes for the first two teams to land a robotic rover on the moon and send back images and other data. Ten teams have announced their intention to participate in the competition. The teams include universities, open-source engineers, and aerospace startups. One team is led by renowned roboticist William L. Whitaker, a Carnegie Mellon University professor. Other teams include an affiliation of four universities and two major aerospace companies in Italy, and a group that is a loose association of engineers coordinating their efforts online.
The competition has its scientific merits but wouldn't the money have been better spent on more practical applications? I wonder...