10 Teams To Vie For Prize October 24-25

The X Prize Foundation announced Tuesday that 10 teams will compete in the 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, which will take place at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, NM October 24-25, 2008. The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is a two-level, two million dollar competition requiring a vehicle to simulate trips between the moon's surface and lunar orbit.

"Once again, we have excellent teams prepared to compete in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge," said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation. "We are excited to see new teams join the competition, and I am confident that we will give away Prize money this year. We are also delighted to have Northrop Grumman back as our title sponsor. This is the third year Northrop Grumman has supported the Lunar Lander Challenge; they are a valued partner and we would like to thank them for their continued enthusiasm."

The teams competing are:

• Armadillo Aerospace - Armadillo Aerospace, based in Mesquite, Texas and led by 3D graphics pioneer and video game developer John Carmack, is a veteran of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Armadillo was the only team to fly a vehicle at the 2006 and 2007 competitions. They will be entering their MOD and QUAD vehicles into the Level One and Two competitions, respectively. In addition to their participation in the Lunar Lander Challenge, Armadillo was a contender in the Ansari X Prize, and has done work for the Rocket Racing League, NASA, and the U.S. Air Force.
• BonNova - BonNova, led by Allen Newcomb and based in Tarzana, California, was established for the sole purpose of winning the Lunar Lander Challenge. They will enter their vehicles Lauryad 1 and Lauryad 2 in Level One and Two competitions, respectively. Newcomb has over 20 years experience in avionics and designing for extreme environments, such as racecars and oil wells. He designed all of the avionics, flight software, and ground software for SpaceDev's hybrid rocket engine on Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne, the winner of the Ansari X Prize.
• Paragon Labs - Paragon Labs is led by Kevin Sagis and headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The team is composed of industry professionals from a number of subsystem disciplines, molded into a "skunk-works" environment to ensure rapid prototyping and development. Paragon plans to compete in Level One with their craft named Volkon. Sagis founded Paragon after working for Lockheed Martin, supporting various NASA centers.
• Phoenicia - Team Phoenicia is a group of dedicated individuals, led by William Baird, who have come together to open up and explore the cosmos. The team is headquartered in Emeryville, California. By building a scalable and semimodular design, Team Phoenicia is tackling the competition in a manner that allows the follow-on development of landers with potential commercial application. Their Level Two vehicle is called The Wind at Dawn.
• TrueZer0 - TrueZer0 is a four person team led by Todd Squires and Scott Zeeb and based in Chicago, Illinois. The team consists of a mechanical engineer, an electrical/CS engineer, and a father and son who own and operate a machine shop. The team has worked together on a number of projects and thinks that between the four members, they have excellent coverage of almost all aspects of the competition, from design through production. They plan to compete in Level One with their vehicle, Ignignokt.
• Unreasonable Rocket - Unreasonable Rocket, led by Paul Breed, is developing two vehicles to compete in Level One and Level Two of the 2008 Lunar Lander Challenge. Unreasonable Rocket is a small father and son team located in Solana Beach, California, with a long-term goal of showing that significant rocket and space flight capabilities are achievable by small teams. Their vehicles are called Burning Splinter 90 and Burning Splinter 180.
• Four other teams have requested to remain confidential. Their confidentiality period ends 60 days before the start of the competition at which time the X Prize Foundation can publicly announce the name of the teams.

The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is also funded by the New Mexico Spaceport Authority and the State of New Mexico. New Mexico is a key supporter of the X Prize Foundation and the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, and is committed to making a home for entrepreneurial space in New Mexico. "This marks the third year that the X Prize Foundation's Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge has come to the state of New Mexico, where we continue to be on the leading edge of the commercial spaceflight industry. Competitions like the Lunar Lander Challenge will advance the technology needed as we continue to develop the commercial spaceflight industry and New Mexico's Spaceport America," said New Mexico Spaceport Authority Executive Director, Steve Landeene.

The X Prize Foundation manages the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge for the NASA Centennial Challenges Program, which provides the $2 million Prize purse for the competition. While the competition normally takes place at the X Prize Cup, the Cup has been postponed until 2009 and the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge will be a solo event this year.

FMI: www.xprize.org, http://space.xPrize.org/ng-lunar-lander-challenge