Feb 21 2008
From The Space Library
The X Prize Foundation and Google announced the names of the first 10 teams to qualify to compete in the Google Lunar X Prize competition, which would award US$20 million to the first team to send a rover to the Moon. The winning team must build a rover that would land on the Moon, transmit a data signal back to Earth, travel at least 500 meters (1,640 feet), and then transmit another data signal. The X Prize Foundation would also give US$5 million to the second team to accomplish this goal, as well as offering additional prizes for other lunar achievements, such as the detection of lunar ice. The teams qualifying for the competition were Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association (ARCA) of Romania; Astrobotic Technology of the United States; Chandah of the United States; FREDNET, a multinational team; LunaTrex of the Unites States; Micro-Space of the United States; Odyssey Moon of the Isle of Man; Quantum3 of the United States; Southern California Selene Group of the United States; and Team Italia of Italy.
Google Lunar X Prize, “The X Prize Foundation Announces Official Contenders in Private Moon Race,” news release, 21 February 2008, http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/press-release/the-x-prize-foundation-announces-official-contenders-in-private-moon-race (accessed 6 January 2011), Brad Stone, “A Google Competition, with a Robotic Moon Landing as a Goal,” New York Times, 22 February 2008.
The U.S. Navy cruiser Lake Erie fired a missile interceptor that struck down a disabled American spy satellite over the Pacific Ocean. The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) managed the 5,000-pound (2,268-kilgram) satellite, which was orbiting 130 miles (209 kilometers) above Earth’s surface, at over 17,000 miles per hour (27,359 kilometers per hour), when it was hit at 22:30 (EST). The satellite had been inoperative since shortly after its launch in December 2006. Officials had been concerned that its fuel tank, filled with 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms) of toxic hydrazine, could pose a risk to humans if the satellite fell in a populated area. A heat-seeking missile interceptor, retooled to track the frozen satellite, had accomplished the strike. Military officials had timed the strike to occur after Space Shuttle Atlantis’s 20 February 2008 return to Earth, but before 1 March 2008, when the satellite’s fall into the upper atmosphere would disrupt its orbit, making it more difficult to hit. Officials stated that they believed that the impact had been strong enough to incinerate the fuel tank, although they would not know for 24 hours whether that had actually occurred.
Thom Shanker, “Missile Strikes a Spy Satellite Falling From Its Orbit,” New York Times, 21 February 2008.
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