SOURCE: X PRIZE Foundation
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October 23, 2009 16:26 ET
Four Private Space Companies Vie for $1+ Million Prize in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Presented by X PRIZE Foundation
The Million Dollar Race Locks in Armadillo Aerospace, Masten Space Systems, BonNovA and Unreasonable Rocket as Final Competitors
PLAYA VISTA, CA--(Marketwire - October 23, 2009) - The race for the $2 million Northrop Grumman
Lunar Lander Challenge (NGLLC) incentivized prize purse, funded by NASA
and presented by the X PRIZE
Foundation, is coming down to the wire. As the competition end date
(Oct. 31) draws near, teams will descend upon the Mojave Desert in a
head-to-head showdown to compete for portions of the remaining $1.65
million prize purse. Officials have confirmed that at least $1.15 million
will be awarded this year to a minimum of two of the four NGLLC teams.
This will be the largest incentivized prize awarded by the X PRIZE
Foundation since the 2004 Ansari X PRIZE competition.
"The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge has turned into a real
horse-race. There is $1.65 million up for grabs that will be decided in the
next 10 days," said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE
Foundation. "It is getting very exciting and is worth everyone watching.
The ultimate winners will be all of the teams in this emerging industry,
NASA and the space-passionate public."
The NGLLC is comprised of two levels; each level includes both first and
second place prizes. The $350,000 first-place prize for Level 1 went to
Armadillo Aerospace at last year's competition. The remaining prizes
include the second-place prize for Level 1 worth $150,000, and the two
prizes for Level 2 worth $1 million and $500,000.
"When this prize was first announced, there was hardly any work being done
in this important field of rocketry," noted William Pomerantz, Senior
Director of Space Prizes of the X PRIZE Foundation. "To have a situation
where we are judging back-to-back-to-back launch attempts by three
different teams, especially on the heels of the impressive flights put on
by Armadillo, Masten, and TrueZer0 previously, is absolutely astounding.
We're witnessing the birth of a new sector of the industry, and NASA, the
US government, and private customers are all going to benefit."
On Sept. 12, Armadillo
Aerospace, led by id Software founder John Carmack, successfully
completed the requirements for the Level 2 NGLLC prize purse. The
criterion for Level 2 requires the rocket to simulate a full lunar lander
mission. The flight profile must closely simulate the task of descending
from lunar orbit to the lunar surface, refueling and returning to lunar
orbit. To match the performance of such a mission here on Earth, the
vehicle must ascend to a height of 50 meters, translate horizontally to a
landing pad 50 meters away, land safely on a rocky lunar-replica surface
after at least 180 seconds of flight time and then repeat the flight by
returning to the original launch site. The Armadillo team flew its lunar
lander rocket vehicle, "Scorpius," twice in two hours, flying between a
pair of landing pads to qualify for the top prize. The two flights of
Scorpius, which weighs about 1900 pounds when fully loaded with its ethanol
and liquid oxygen propellant, launched from the Caddo Mills Municipal
Airport in Texas, where Armadillo Aerospace's
facilities are based.
On Oct. 26, BonNovA, led by
Allen Newcomb, will attempt to qualify for the second place prize of the
Level 1 portion of the NGLLC. BonNovA's vehicle, Lauryad 1, will launch
from Cantil, California using propane and N2O as its propellant. The
requirements of Level 1 of the competition challenge teams to simulate a
lunar mission and complete two successful flights, with the rocket rising
to 50 meters, translating over to a second landing pad, and remaining in
the air for at least 90 seconds. The following day, BonNovA will attempt
to successfully complete the requirements of Level 2 of the NGLLC with its
Lauryad 2 vehicle.
On Oct. 28 and 29, Masten Space
Systems, directed by David Masten, will attempt to complete the
requirements for the Level 2 mission, which would also put them in the
running for the $1 million prize. The team's rocket, XA0.1E, also called
"Xoie," weighs about 850 pounds when fully loaded with its isopropyl
alcohol (IPA) and liquid oxygen propellant. It will launch from the Mojave
Air and Space Port in California. On Oct. 7, the Masten team completed the
requirements of Level 1 of the NGLLC qualifying for the second-place prize
of $150,000. The rocket launch was their second attempt at a Level 1
challenge as the team made an effort on Sept. 16.
Also in the race is Unreasonable Rocket, a father
and son team managed by Paul Breed. The Unreasonable team will attempt the
Level 1 portion of the challenge on Oct. 30 with its "Burning Splinter 90"
rocket, also called "the blue ball." They will be launching from Cantil,
California. On Oct. 31, the Unreasonable team will make its first attempt
at the Level 2 portion of the challenge with its "Burning Splinter 180"
vehicle, also called "the silver ball." Both lunar lander vehicles use a
Hydrogen Peroxide bipropellant as the propellant. October 31 is the final
day available for flights this year. Should any prize money remain after
these attempts, teams will need to wait until 2010, the final year of the
program, to try again.
The ultimate goal of the NGLLC is to inspire entrepreneurs who can enable a
new era of commercial exploration. These milestone events within the
privately funded space sector continue to demonstrate the value of prizes
and how they stimulate innovation. The successful flights from all of the
private space companies continue to underscore the report to President
Obama by the Augustine Commission, which called for increased commercial
sector participation both in orbital operations and NASA's efforts to reach
the Moon by 2020. Now, more than ever the time is right for private
industry to supply NASA with hardware and services to enable suborbital,
orbital, and lunar exploration.
For more information about X PRIZE Foundation, please visit www.xprize.org.