Seeker Blog

Jeff Foust at The Space Review covers the finals, won two challengers Amadillo and Masten:

(…) the final week of the 2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge (NGLLC), a competition that is part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges prize program to develop vertical takeoff, vertical landing vehicles like those that one day may touch down on the Moon. For those who were paying attention, the event provided arguablt far more drama and excitement—and even controversy—than the Ares 1-X launch. And, in the long run, the outcome might prove to be as significant, if not more so, than that single launch from the Cape.

Down to the wire

Entering the last week of October—also the last week of the 2009 competition—two teams had already qualified for prizes: Armadillo Aerospace in Level Two (see “Playing the waiting (and winning) game”, The Space Review, September 14, 2009) and Masten Space Systems in Level One, after an earlier flight attempt short (see “A Xombie over Mojave”, The Space Review, September 21, 2009). But they couldn’t claim the prizes until that hectic last week, with three teams—BonNova, Masten, and Unreasonable Rocket—planning flight attempts in Levels One and Two.

Going into the final week Armadillo’s Level Two flight seemed to be the more secure of the two: after all, no one had successfully flown even a Level One flight before Armadillo made its successful Level Two attempt on September 12. Level Two has twice the flight time (180 seconds per leg) of Level One, and also requires a landing on simulated lunar terrain. Masten’s successful Level One flight, with its highly accurate landings, though provided an opening, as landing accuracy serves as the tiebreaker. Masten’s own Level One flight, though, could be bumped from second place (Armadillo claimed first place last year) if another team could perform an even more accurate landing.

(…) Masten’s Level Two success means that all the remaining prize money in the $2-million competition has now been claimed: Masten won $1 million for first place in Level Two and $150,000 for second place in Level One, while Armadillo won $500,000 for second place in Level Two, on top of the $350,000 they got last year for winning Level One. NASA and the X PRIZE Foundation honored the teams in a ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington last week.

“We now have enough cash to get to regular revenue from doing suborbital flights, and possibly even profitability,” Masten said.

The end of the NGLLC leaves two companies, Armadillo and Masten, in good position to move ahead with suborbital vehicle development efforts. (…)