LunarLanderChallenge
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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]
Buy your way into the X-Prize Lunar Lander Challenge
If you're looking to get in on a piece of that X-Prize pie but find yourself lacking in that little requirement of aerospace engineering expertise, you now have a chance to make up for your chosen career path, with one team competing in the X-Prize's Lunar Lander Challenge offering up a piece of the action on eBay. While it's certainly a gamble, should the team actually win, the one lucky bidder could be taking home up to $650,000 in prize money, not to mention one of the two actual lunar lander vehicles set to take part in the competition. For your trouble, they'll also let you plaster your name or company logo on the sides of the craft. Of course, given that the only glimpse of the vehicle is the mockup seen after the break, the chances of it being ready for the X-Prize competition this October would seem to be a little slim, especially if the bidding stays at the current four digit level. If you've got deep enough pockets, however, you can swoop in a snag it outright for the Buy it Now price of $199,000, giving the team a seemingly much-needed shot in the arm.[Via Uber-Review]
