Lunar lander teams throttle up for cash

By Leonard David

updated 1:34 p.m. ET Oct. 18, 2007

GOLDEN, Colo. - What goes up, must come down — but tenderly and precisely. That's part of the rules for the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.

The Challenge is a major head-turning event at the upcoming Holloman Air & Space Expo in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The countdown clock is ticking as the Oct. 27-28 expo draws closer, staged in collaboration with the Wirefly X Prize Cup.

At this year's Cup, the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge will see rocketeers vying for $2 million in prizes that are on the line — cash made available through NASA's Centennial Challenges Program. That space agency funding is focused on speeding up commercial development of technology that can ferry cargo and humans between the moon's surface and lunar orbit.

The competition is divided into two levels. Here are the basics:

Level 1 requires a rocket to take off from a designated launch area, rocket up to 150 feet (50 meters) altitude, and then hover for 90 seconds while landing precisely on a landing pad nearly 330 feet (100 meters) away. The flight must then be repeated in reverse — and both flights, along with all of the necessary preparation for each, must take place within a two and a half hour period.

Level 2 requires the rocket to hover for twice as long before landing precisely on a simulated lunar surface, packed with craters and boulders to mimic actual lunar terrain. The hover times are calculated so that the Level 2 mission closely simulates the power needed to perform a real lunar mission.

The roster of rocket teams that entered this year's Challenge:

Acuity Technologies of Menlo Park, Calif.
Armadillo Aerospace of Mesquite, Texas
BonNova of Tarzana, Calif.
Masten Space Systems based in Mojave, Calif.
Micro-Space of Denver, Colo.
Paragon Labs of Denver, Colo.
SpeedUp of Laramie and Chugwater, Wyoming
Unreasonable Rocket based in Solana Beach, Calif.

That's eight individual teams, with a ninth "mystery team" withdrawing rather than having their identity publicly revealed.

Acuity and Armadillo
"At this point, it looks like there are two teams that still have a chance to fly... Acuity and Armadillo," said Will Pomerantz, director of Space Projects for the X Prize Foundation. "Both have work to do between now and the Cup and, as is the nature of such a competition, new issues are continually arising for all parties," he told SPACE.com.

Pomerantz added that all those involved in the Challenge are getting quite good at quickly solving problems as they crop up, be they from Holloman Air Force Base, the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, as well as X Prize Cup officials.

Armadillo still hopes to bring their two different vehicles, Pixel in Level Two, and "the MOD" in Level 1. Acuity is building two substantially similar vehicles, called "Tiger" and "Cardinal."

A Pomerantz prognostication: "We're confident that one of these teams will win at least one of the prizes this year!"

Almost all of the teams that are part of the competition — even though a majority of them are not going to actually fly their craft — should show up in one fashion or another, Pomerantz said, proudly displaying their varying vehicles.

MORE FROM SPACE

Space Section Front

Wind turbine whips up UFO buzz in Britain   More names mentioned for NASA post   Moon buggy to debut in inaugural parade Scientists learn to live on moon dirt Giant planets have to grow up fast Mysterious space boom detected Runaway stars go ballistic Earth life headed for Mars moon Japan to track greenhouse gases from space   Month in Space: Journey to other worlds Space Section Front   Add Space headlines to your news reader: