Masten vehicle qualifies for Lunar Lander Challenge prize
Posted: Thu, Oct 8, 2009, 6:25 AM ET (1025 GMT)
A vehicle developed by a small California company successfully qualified for a $150,000 prize that is part of NASA's Centennial Challenges program. Masten Space Systems flew its XA-0.1B or "Xombie" vehicle at the Mojave Air and Space Port on Wednesday, meeting all the requirements of Level 1 of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Masten is vying for the $150,000 in second-place prize money available this year; Armadillo Aerospace won the $350,000 first prize last year. Masten will not know until the end of this money if it wins the prize, as two other teams, BonNova and Unreasonable Rocket, are also completing and will not fly their vehicles until late this month. Should another team also fly a Level 1 profile, landing accuracy will be used as the tiebreaker. Masten also plans to fly another vehicle to compete in the Level 2 challenge late this month.
A vehicle developed by a small California company successfully qualified for a $150,000 prize that is part of NASA's Centennial Challenges program. Masten Space Systems flew its XA-0.1B or "Xombie" vehicle at the Mojave Air and Space Port on Wednesday, meeting all the requirements of Level 1 of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Masten is vying for the $150,000 in second-place prize money available this year; Armadillo Aerospace won the $350,000 first prize last year. Masten will not know until the end of this money if it wins the prize, as two other teams, BonNova and Unreasonable Rocket, are also completing and will not fly their vehicles until late this month. Should another team also fly a Level 1 profile, landing accuracy will be used as the tiebreaker. Masten also plans to fly another vehicle to compete in the Level 2 challenge late this month.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Saturday, March 14
Canada Takes Its Sovereignty Push to Space
New York Times — 9:58 am ET (1358 GMT) Eutelsat - termination of capacity contracts on Express AT1 and AT2 satellites
Eutelsat — 9:57 am ET (1357 GMT) USSPACECOM commander highlights U.S.-India space cooperation during Indo-Pacific visit
US Space Command — 9:57 am ET (1357 GMT) Firefly Aerospace: Successful Launch Validates Alpha, But The Real Test Is Cadence
SeekingAlpha — 9:56 am ET (1356 GMT) Confidential settlement for scuttled Starlink deal means Ontarians kept in dark on payout
Canadian Press — 9:53 am ET (1353 GMT) |
