Nine Teams To Compete In Northrop Grumman-Sponsored Event October 24-25

The nine teams registered to compete in the 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge concluded the first Team Summit at Holloman Air Force Base this week.

The Challenge, run by the X Prize Foundation, is a two-level, two million dollar competition requiring a vehicle to simulate trips between the Moon’s surface and lunar orbit. 2008 will be the third year that the Challenge has taken place in New Mexico, and is helping to kickstart the fledgling spaceflight industry in New Mexico.

In addition to support from the NASA Centennial Challenges for providing the $2 million prize, and from Northrop Grumman in providing operating costs, the Challenge has received a great deal of support from the state of New Mexico, and specifically Spaceport America.

One of the goals of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is to help move the private spaceflight industry forward, and New Mexico and the Spaceport are adamant in their support of those goals. The Lunar Lander Challenge is an example of an industry that can help to bring more business to New Mexico. Many teams are excited about the possibilities that New Mexico and Spaceport America offer.

"We’re looking for a major test program in New Mexico starting in 2010," said Neil Milburn, Vice President of Armadillo Aerospace. "Probably as many as 100 flights, most of them sub-orbital space before that year is over."

"Brandon and I went to Los Alamos High School together," said William Baird, leader of Team Phoenicia. "Having lived here for so long, and coming back, it’s just the perfect time. And if the Spaceport opens up, and we have enough backers, maybe we’ll consider something back here!"

The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge will take place on October 24 and 25 at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, NM. The event will not be open to the public as it has been in the past, but will be webcast live, and archived.

FMI: www.xprize.org, http://centennialchallenges.nasa.gov