spacetoday.net: First multimillion-dollar Centennial Challenge announced

Posted: Sat, May 6, 2006, 11:44 AM ET (1544 GMT)
Lunar Lander Analog Challenge illustration (X Prize)

NASA and the X Prize Foundation announced Friday that the two will jointly run the agency's first multimillion-dollar competition for its Centennial Challenges prize program. The Lunar Lander Analog Competition will offer $2.5 million in prizes to groups that successfully demonstrate vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) vehicles that can hover for up to three minutes and land in simulated lunar terrain. Competing vehicles will fly during this October's X Prize Cup in Las Cruces, New Mexico; any prizes not awarded at this year's event will be rolled over to next year. While plans for NASA and the X Prize Foundation to collaborate on such a competition were announced last year, Friday's announcement marks the formal release of the rules and purse amounts. The competition is the first for NASA's Centennial Challenges program that offers prizes work more than $250,000: NASA had been limited to that lower amount until legislation authorizing larger prizes was passed by Congress last year.