X PRIZE PRESS RELEASE
The X PRIZE Foundation has announced that the 2008 Lunar Lander Challenge will take place at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico, October 24-25, 2008.
“We are excited about going back to Holloman Air Force Base to conduct the Lunar Lander Challenge this year,” said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, X Prize Chairman and CEO. “We are thankful for the continued support from the state of New Mexico for private spaceflight.
“The Lunar Lander Challenge is a perfect showcase for the talent and innovation coming from the entrepreneurs who will eventually fly from New Mexico’s Spaceport America. Lunar Lander Challenge teams are ready to fly and we are confident that this is the year someone will win the competition,” he added.
The $2 million Lunar Lander Challenge - which the X Prize manages for NASA - is a two-level competition requiring a vehicle to simulate trips between the Moon’s surface and lunar orbit. The vehicle must fly to an altitude of 50 meters, translate to a landing pad 100 meters away, land safely, and then return following the same path. Two levels have been defined: one with smooth landing pads, the other with a replica lunar surface as an additional difficulty.
“The Lunar Lander Challenge demands precise automatic navigation and control, as well as multiple starts of a rocket engine,” said Andrew Petro, manager of NASA’s Centennial Challenges program. “These capabilities will be essential in the activities that we envision for our future on the Moon and beyond. The competitors have already demonstrated remarkable skill in previous Lunar Lander Challenges and this year is likely to be even more impressive.”
Teams should request registration forms by sending an email to 2008LLCReg@xprize.org. The registration deadline is June 30, 2008.
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