Lunar Lander Challenge set to kick off with $2M at stake

It looks like New Mexico's the place to be for anyone looking to catch a glimpse of a possible future mission to the moon, with the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge set to get underway tomorrow at the Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo. As an added incentive for competitors, NASA is ponying up $2M in prizes, although they'll have their work cut out for them if they want to take that home. Specifically, they need to show off a rocket-propelled vehicle and payload that "takes off vertically, climbs to a defined altitude, flies for a pre-determined amount of time, and then land vertically on a target that is a fixed distance from the launch pad." Then they have to do that all over again within a predetermined period of time. To open things up a bit, there's also two difficulty levels but, as with all challenges of this sort, no one takes home a prize unless they fully meet all the requirements.

[Via Physorg, photo courtesy of X-Prize Foundation/Paragon Labs]

[Tarry @ Aug 11th 2008 2:17AM]

This is great news!

http://www.chasetheglow.com

[Tarry @ Aug 11th 2008 2:17AM]

This is great news!

http://www.chasetheglow.com

[Homeboy @ Oct 25th 2007 1:04PM]

Can it be built out of Lego?

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Oct 25th 2007 8:08PM]

I hope. I got a pile o' unused ones sitting right in front of me. Staring at me with cold, cold eyes...

[Fred @ Oct 25th 2007 1:09PM]

"Specifically, they need to show off a rocket-propelled vehicle and payload that 'takes off vertically, climbs to a defined altitude, flies for a pre-determined amount of time, and then land vertically on a target that is a fixed distance from the launch pad.'"

Didn't NASA already accomplish that with the Apollo missions?

[Chris @ Oct 25th 2007 1:25PM]

I think the idea is that when private institutions attempt the venture, and given the advances in the last 40 years, they will find efficiencies where the massive bureaucracy of NASA did not which will help make space travel more available, in time, to the common man in much the same way that air travel is available to the common man.

phew... run on sentence!!

[Nostromo @ Oct 25th 2007 1:40PM]

It's great: You build us something that kicks ass, we'll give you a prize that might offset your costs by 1%, and then we'll club you over the head and take your technology.

[Magallanes @ Oct 25th 2007 1:54PM]

Everyone can participate but hawaiians.

[Spencer @ Oct 25th 2007 2:26PM]

Go Armadillo!

[kevin @ Oct 25th 2007 3:03PM]

So it's like "X-Prize, Part II". Nifty.

[octoberasian @ Oct 25th 2007 3:36PM]

So, this is not the same as that other Google-funded X-Prize lunar landing?

And, didn't NASA or one of their contractors attempt this with the McDonnell Douglas DC-X? The vertical take-off and landing rocket that failed during landing on one of the tests. So, that got scrapped immediately.

Hopefully private firms can do something better.

[Simon Tooke @ Oct 25th 2007 3:56PM]

Hey, for a second there I was thinking that's a REALLY BIG prize for a REALLY OLD computer game!

[scott @ Oct 25th 2007 4:38PM]

$2 million dollars? is that a joke? our own space agency can't even afford a prize 1/15 the size of the Google Lunar X PRIZE. Maybe someone competing for the X PRIZE will have enough pitty for NASA and swing by New Mexico to compete. Even then the prize money wouldn't cover the travel costs for a small team.

Good luck NASA.

[DarkAardvark @ Oct 25th 2007 5:07PM]

does a giant jet-pack count? then when it runs out of fuel, i can just glide down to the target (and die)

[rv @ Oct 25th 2007 5:25PM]

We landed about 50 years ago and haven't done anything in terms of man in space since then. Its disappointing.

[Marc-O @ Oct 26th 2007 5:42AM]

38 years ago actually... :)

(41 if you meant unmanned)