May 5 2006

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At the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference, NASA Deputy Administrator Shana L. Dale announced NASA’s sponsorship of the Lunar Lander Challenge competition, with prizes totaling US$2.5 million, to develop rockets capable of landing on the Moon. The X Prize Foundation would manage the competition and award the Lunar Lander Challenge prizes at the presentation of the X Prize Cup in October 2006. The challenge would have two levels of difficulty, with prizes awarded at each level. Level 1 would require a vehicle to take off from a designated launch area, rocket to an altitude of 150 feet (50 meters), hover for 90 seconds, and land on a pad 100 meters (320.08 feet) from the launch point. Level 2 would require the same launch altitude and the same distance between launch and landing pad, but the rocket would have to hover for 180 seconds and to land on a rocky site simulating the lunar surface. California entrepreneur Peter H. Diamandis, founder of the X Prize competition, stated that “entrepreneurial companies can build the lunar space ships [necessary for achieving NASA’s goal of returning people to the Moon in the next decade], and a Lunar Lander Challenge can stimulate the required technology in an efficient and rapid fashion.”

Maggie McKee, “Lunar Lander Is NASA’s Biggest Challenge,” New Scientist, 5 May 2006; X Prize Foundation, “X Prize Foundation and NASA Offer $2.5 Million Lunar Lander Challenge Competition To Take Place at ’06 X Prize Cup in Las Cruces,” 4 May 2006, http://www.xprize.org/llc/press-release/x-prize-foundation-and-nasa-offer-2-5-million-lunar-challenge-competition-t (accessed 23 March 2010).

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