JJ Abrams takes a Moon Shot in a new video series about Google’s lunar challenge

It sounds like it could be the start of a JJ Abrams movie: 16 teams compete to win a big cash prize by landing a spacecraft on the Moon. Except, instead it’s a series of JJ Abrams documentaries about real life.

The celebrated TV and film producer has teamed up with Oscar-nominated director Orlando von Einsiedel and the Google-backed Lunar Xprize to create Moon Shot, a Web series about the teams vying to be first to get their craft to the moon and win $30 million.

The trailer (above) has just been released, and the series itself will be available on Google Play on March 15 and on YouTube on March 17.

The competing teams need to land an unmanned spacecraft on the Moon, have it explore at least 500 meters and transmit HD video and images back to Earth, before the end of next year.

Of course, if it was a JJ Abrams movie, a 20-foot high interstellar polar bear would probably emerge out of a crater and eat the spacecraft. I bet none of the teams have prepared for that eventuality.