The whole idea is not nearly as far-fetched as some people may think. There has already been significant work done to assess the feasibility of a small, private enterprise to reach the Moon. While you have to be careful not to underestimate just how difficult a venture like this is going to be (and by the way, don't even begin to think that just winning the $20 million prize will recover the required investment to make this happen), it is possible - with a lot of dedication, knowledge, effort, and money. One obvious plan would be to start with a
Taurus or even a
Pegasus vehicle from
Orbital Science Space Launch Systems, plus the output of the
Lunar Exploration and Development project from
Transformational Space Corporation (formerly LunaCorp), plus the
Icebreaker system from the
CMU Lunar Rover Initiative. All the basic building blocks are there for some very enterprising group to put a robotic rover on the Moon.
-dave