Competition To Take Place October 24-25 Near Alamogordo, NM

The X Prize Foundation today announced that the 2008 Lunar Lander Challenge will take place at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, NM October 24-25, 2008. This year's competition will also be webcast online, so the public can follow the action at the X Prize Foundation website.

"We are excited about going back to Holloman Air Force Base to conduct the Lunar Lander Challenge this year," said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation. "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."

The X Prize Foundation manages the Lunar Lander Challenge for the NASA Centennial Challenges Program, which provides the prize money for the competition.

"The Lunar Lander Challenge demands precise automatic navigation and control, as well as multiple starts of a rocket engine," said Andrew Petro, NASA Centennial Challenges Manager. "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 who wish to register for the 2008 competition should send an email requesting the registration forms to 2008LLCReg@xprize.org. The deadline for registration is June 30, 2008.

The Lunar Lander Challenge is a two-level, $2 million competition requiring a vehicle to simulate trips between the Moon's surface and lunar orbit. The vehicle is required to rise to a height 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.

In 2007, eight teams were registered to compete: Acuity Technologies, Armadillo Aerospace, BonNova, Masten Space Systems, Micro-Space, Paragon Labs, SpeedUp, and Unreasonable Rocket.

FMI: www.xprize.org, www.nasa.gov