Astrobotic, a spin-out of Carnegie Mellon University, has launched an interplanetary mail delivery service to fuel efforts to win the Google Lunar XPrize.

Called MoonMail, the Pittsburgh-based company will take mementos to the moon from members of the public. Prices will begin at $460, and the company is billing it as an opportunity for people to commemorate life events by placing a permanent reminder on the moon. Along with the keepsakes, Astrobotic also plans to send up a moon rover on board a rocket leased from rocket company SpaceX.

The company is hoping that the service will help raise funds to support Astrobotic’s main goal of capturing the Google Lunar XPrize. The competition is offering $20m to private teams if they are able to land a robot on the moon, move 500 metres along, above, or below its surface, and send back HDTV ‘mooncasts’ for the public to watch, all before 31 Dec 2015.