I've been covering space prizes for a bit over 3 years now. One of the tools I've used from the beginning is an automated internet search for new information on space prizes. In those 3 years I've never seen anything like the flood of media articles and blog updates on the exciting recent Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge flights by Masten Space Systems and Armadillo Aerospace. I'm not going to attempt to round up all of that; you can see the results so far at places like The Launch Pad and RLV News. Don't forget that the competition is still going strong:
@unrocket - Son is cooking catalyst disks, I just finished the software for the gimbal controls. Should be ready to test the silver ball on Sat!
Static first then maybe monoprop flight.
Up and starting the 20 hr day....
Decadal Survey: 29 Lunar White Papers - Spaceports covers the LEAG (Lunar Exploration Analysis Group) list of white papers for lunar science, and suggests these might be of interest to Google Lunar X PRIZE teams. Here's one of the white papers:
Proposal for a Lunar Exploration/Science Campaign: A commercially‐leveraged, science‐focused, lunar exploration program (PDF) - Robert M. Kelso
@regolith_chal - Early count puts number of teams at about 20. Full roster will be posted later this week.
Super busy day with registration processing. Getting ready for team documentation deadline tonight.
@paulsrobotics - Just machined the digger final drive sprocket. http://yfrog.com/0htdbefj came out well
2009-2010 Life and Work on the Moon Art and Design Contest (9-12, Higher Ed) - Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium
Here are the 2009 winners.
@tedprize - Updates on Jill Tarter's wish - http://bit.ly/6JsXn and http://bit.ly/13ZAl1
Kids Win National Rocket Contest and Need Your Help! - Space for All
Vomitrocious Climber Video - LaserMotive
Space Elevator Games - testing updates - Space Elevator Blog
Launching Commercial Space Travel - Part 3
Will Whitehorn and Virgin Galactic Want to Bring You to Space
The '60s and '70s were space eras. NASA had launched the Apollo program (1963 - 1972), and with that, space exploration was alive. We had accomplished a significant and daring feat with the Apollo 11 moon landing. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey brought the story of space exploration to the big screen. The buzz of space was everywhere and ushered in a new wave of hope and excitement...something we had never before witnessed. People began to dream that, they too, could someday travel into space. But, as time progressed, the dream began to disappear. We saw a string of horrendous accidents - including the 1986 Challenger explosion. Scientists began to make the argument that robots (and not man) should travel to space. Slowly, our hope and promise for space exploration had morphed into a general malaise. I clearly remember the turn of the millennium as a time in which the dream of space seemed to be lost.
And then along came the X PRIZE. The Ansari X PRIZE was launched at a time when space was coming back on the agenda. Satellites, probes and the Hubble Space Telescope were all good stories, and a new generation had forgotten this "man vs. robot" debate. The topic of space exploration had gradually made its way back.
I first learned about X PRIZE in 1997 when Peter Diamandis called Sir Richard (Branson) and me. Now, incentive prizes as drivers of innovation had gone out of fashion since the Second World War. But after talking with Peter, I said to Sir Richard, "This is fascinating. We should seriously be looking at the technology of whoever wins." We debated whether or not it was possible for the prize to be won. In the end, we decided that because technology had changed so much and because prizes were such strong drivers of technological breakthroughs, that it was a possible achievement. The X PRIZE was trailblazing the incentive prize model; even from the word "go" it couldn't be dismissed.
The response to the X PRIZE was global. From Japan to Scotland and from Scandinavia to South Africa, people all around the world were watching and talking about it. Almost every where you went, there was somebody who knew about the Ansari flight. Maybe they didn't know all of the details. Maybe they just knew that there had been a private space flight or that someone had made it to space, but to achieve that kind of global awareness, in a world where there was so much going on, was extremely impressive.
The most exciting thing about all of this was the chance that no winner would be announced by the deadline. It was an enormous risk for Sir Richard to sign the deal with Paul Allen and Burt Rutan (the sponsor and the engineer of the team that won the Ansari X PRIZE). It was this 19th century idea of "if we build it they will come." Yet in 2004, their SpaceShipOne DID win the $10 million prize. And think about how that happened: because Burt came out of the aviation industry and was an aerodynamicist, not a rocket scientist, he was able to develop a practical technological solution that we, as a business, could apply to many other things. That's the success of the prize model.
In 2004-2005, we launched Virgin Galactic using the spaceship we licensed from Paul Allen. We anticipate that approximately 600 people will go to space in the first year that SpaceShipTwo begins space tours. That's essentially the total number of people who have ever gone to space. By our tenth year, we anticipate taking close to eight or nine-thousand people a year. With these numbers, the economies of scale and amortization of costs will dramatically drive down the price, just as it did in aviation, which first began as a luxury very few people could afford. And as we start to add on other businesses, including satellite launches, space science experiments and others, we'll attract venture capital to transform the industry.
So, considering how far we have come since that call in 1997, the Ansari X PRIZE was not only a catalyst for developing the commercial space industry, but also for keeping the dream of space alive. 
Please tune in Fridays through October 2 to read the inspirational stories of the visionaries and heroes who turned my "crazy idea" into a reality. Next week you will read about Anousheh Ansari, the first woman to privately go to space, and her $10 million purse. We will conclude the series the following week with the exciting story of Brian Binnie and his prize winning flight of SpaceShipOne.
Happy Friday everyone!
Update (11:00AM Pacific Time/18:00 UTC):
The talented Mr. Pomerantz has emerged victorious! Thanks to everyone that tuned in to our Ustream channel, we ended up with 50+ people watching us rapidly consume strawberry moonpies and Cokes. I've now managed to stop clutching my stomach and post the video of the event (~12 min, competition starts at ~6 min), so here is the instant replay video for your viewing pleasure:
Our official timekeeper, James Moore (@Quarkspin) informs me that the official time was 3:39 for Will and 3:41 for me. We also have several parties interested in joining us remotely for the next round of Moonpie competitions (including the infamous Mike Fabio). Send me a message via Twitter (@glxp) or leave a note here if you'd like to join the fun next time -- and take down the reigning champ! I'll even send some moonpies to those that agree to compete. Don't worry, I won't send the strawberry ones!
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(8:00AM Pacific Time/15:00 UTC)
It's been another exciting and busy week here at X PRIZE.
The Space 2009 conference was taking place all week just up the road from X PRIZE, in Pasadena, and our own Will Pomerantz sat on a panel at the conference for young professionals called "Inside Aerospace". As the stars aligned, Will's panel started at exactly the same time that Masten Space Systems began their first attempt for the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Level I remaining prize purse. If you missed the news updates over the past couple of days, Masten had a great flight but acquired some engine damage on their Xombie vehicle, so they are postponing their next flight until Oct. 7-8.
Well, I don't know about you all, but I think a most appropriate ending to such a dynamic week is most certainly.... A MOONPIE EATING COMPETITION!
Back by popular demand, we decided to host another Moonpie competition a couple of weeks ago as a reward for everyone that helped us gain 150 followers within a week to break 4,000 followers on the GLXP Twitter feed (#MoonpiesFor4000). Through RTs and blog posts, our great GLXP community made it happen! So today we are making good on our promise and scarfing down some Moonpies live via webcast. (That is a sentence I never thought that I would write).
For those unfamiliar, a Moonpie eating contest looks something like this:
Except in GLXP's case, the guinea pigs are Will and Amanda and the celery sticks are replaced with wholesome chocolately Moonpies ("the official Cybersnack of the 21st century"). You can catch all the action today at 10am Pacific Time (17:00 UTC) on our GLXP Ustream channel: http://bit.ly/2QkYjC. We'll start broadcasting around 9:45am for anyone that wants to drop in and say "hi" or vote for a winner prior to the competition.
Note: Ustream has changed some of the rules recently. You can still watch video, but if you would like to chat with us (we'd like to talk to you!) then you'll now need to login to Ustream. On the bright side, you can then follow GLXP on Ustream and find out when we're broadcasting new content!
Tune in and find out who will emerge victorious, and who will spend the rest of the day with an upset stomach (both of us, I'm guessing). Thanks for being such great fans! We'll see you at 10am, Moonpies in hand...
All photos credit: A. Stiles, X PRIZE Foundation.
Thanks, as always, to Northrop Grumman and to NASA's Centennial Challenges, as well as the brilliant men and women who are competing in this contest.
Click through to YouTube to watch in higher definition!
Onboard video:
Team Masten made their first attempt and the Level One Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge today, making them just the third team to do so. After an intense week of last preparations, the crew got started early this morning with a 5:30 safety briefing, an official competition window start time around 9:15am, and take-off for their first flight about an hour later.
From a scoring perspective, Masten's first flight was a true beauty. Xombie (their rocket vehicle) remained in the air for 93 seconds, surpassing the required 90 second. The vehicle landed with about 17.5 cm of the center of the pad--extremely encouraging, as landing accuracy will be used to break any ties in this competition. The flight looked really beautiful to staff and observers.
However, upon post-landing inspection, team Masten noticed a leak in their regeneratively-cooled engine chamber. Rather than risk losing a vehicle, they decided to call it a day. They'll go back, troubleshoot the problem, and try again in their October windows. Their next attempt is scheduled for October 7-8.
Team leader Dave Masten notes via Twitter: "We know the prob[lem] and will try again in a few weeks." Here's hoping that's true.
Kudos to Masten for a great performance today, and for keeping level heads and making a wise decision to fully troubleshoot the problem rather than to press onward with another flight today. As noted by Armadillo's Phil Eaton: "Good choice guys! Use up your days, not your vehicles ... [Masten is ]making the right choice in times like this. That makes for a bright future... That's what the customer wants to see!"
It was a great attempt and success seems very likely in October!
Best of luck to Masten, and to all of our other teams!
Masten Space System's XA-0.1B rocket, nicknamed 'Xombie', sits only a few centimeters off the center of the landing pad after a flight made in an attempt to win Level One of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Photo Credit: A. Stiles, X PRIZE Foundation
After working on this prize for three years, I am personally very impressed with Xombie and team Masten. Let's wish them luck on the flight back!
Today, it's Masten's turn. Update: As of 9:13am Pacific, Masten is officially on the clock! They have 2 hours and 15 minutes to complete the mission (not including any official holds ('time outs') granted by the judges! First flight is expected shortly after 10am.
Only 4 days after Armadillo Aerospace successfully completed the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Level Two mission just outside of Dallas, TX, Masten Space Systems is making an attempt at Level One from their home in Mojave, CA, about two hours from downtown Los Angeles. (For a quick refresher about the two different levels, and about the logic behind the rules, see this old blog post.)
In order to support these attempts, the Challenge Judges, X PRIZE Foundation officials, and NASA representatives quickly moved from Texas to California to set up operations. There were pads to be inspected, landing accuracy measurements to be calibrated, and safety briefings to attend--including this morning's brief at the almost painful hour of 5:30am.
To be required to support two missions within the span of less than a week is truly an honor for us at the X PRIZE Foundation, and an incredibly positive sign for a part of the industry that for all intents and purposes did not exist when this Challenge was announced four years ago.
On hand to view today's launch attempt will be many representatives of NewSpace companies in addition to engineers from a variety of NASA centers, in particular NASA Dryden. Everyone we have spoken to is incredibly excited about this new capacity that is developing in the industry for cheap, frequently-flying test platforms.
The best way to follow along with today's action is via Twitter--either by following our own @NGLLC09 account or by searching for the #NGLLC hashtag. If you are tweeting about the competition yourself, please remember to put the #NGLLC tag anywhere in your post!
Vehicle prep is underway as the time of writing of this post, and takeoff on the first leg of the mission is expected sometime close to 10:00am Pacific.
Team Masten loads their rocket "Xombie" onto the pad early in the morning, in preparation for their attempt to win Level One of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Photo Credit: E. Bina / X PRIZE Foundation
Masten unloads Xombie onto the launch pad, a few minutes into the start of their official competition window. Photo Credit: A. Stiles / X PRIZE Foundation
Journalist extraordinaire Alan Boyle posted this graphic to his Facebook profile. It was just too good not to pass on--and Alan was generous enough to allow me to pass it along here.
(Credit: Alan Boyle; and others as labelled)
Also, be sure to check out Alan's excellent write-up of tomorrow's Masten Space Systems flights in pursuit of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Level One purse.
This morning, I was emailing with a friend at NASA HQ, who popped me a question about the lunar surface that is required for teams competing for Level Two of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. He asked me (via Facebook--another sign of the times!): "who determines what the 'simulated lunar surface' is like?" I suspect this question may be of interest to a many of you ask well, so I wanted to share my answer.
The lunar surface was designed back in 2006, the first year of this prize competition. It was a joint design, spearheaded by Brooke Owens at the X PRIZE Foundation (now at FAA/AST) and Dr. Sonya Cooper at New Mexico State University. It was a great honor and privilege that we additionally received some input and advice from Apollo astronaut and former US Senator Harrison "Jack" Schmidt, the only geologist to have walked on the surface of the Moon.
The design of the pad required a delicate balance between what is most realistic, what what practical to construct, and what was commensurate with the expected level of difficulty given the prize purse size and expected timeline. We therefore looked at everything from typical crater distribution and shape to overall surface slopes to surface roughness data from a variety of landing sites. We ended up designing a surface like the one pictured below.
We did look at having an overall surface slope of a few degrees (if I recall correctly, the slope tolerance for the Apollo LMs was on the order of 10-15 degrees, so we looked at replicating those statistics), but accomplishing such slopes proved logistically intense (e.g. it required finding a fast and affordable way to construct that pad out in the middle of a working airport). Additionally, it caused concerns about the regulatory burden that such a landing surface might have generated. From a technical standpoint, I suspect many if not all of the of the vehicles designed to claim this prize would indeed be capable of landing on a surface with a modest overall slope--but finding a way to do so where saftey restrictions wouldn't require the vehicle to be leveled prior to a second flight (thereby at least somewhat defeating the purpose) would be quite time consuming.
In subsequent years, we've tried to keep a very similar design to that pad build in 2006, just to preserve fairness. This year, we provided the teams with a blue print for what they needed to build (which can be found on the final page of the rules document, available here).
These pads are fun to work with and fun to look at / photograph. Here are a few highlights:
The pad built for the 2006 and 2008 events at Las Cruces International Airport.jpg)
The pad built for the 2007 event at Holloman Air Force Base
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The pad used by Armadillo in 2009
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| From 09 NGLLC |
And lastly, my personal favorite, my 'Al Shepard moment'
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This past weekend, as regular readers are aware, Armadillo Aerospace made an attempt to complete the Level Two Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge mission, which requires two 180-second rocket powered flights within two hour and fifteen minute time period, as well as the use of a simulated lunar surface as a landing pad. After several hours of rain delay, Armadillo accomplished the job beautifully! You can see some rough video of their successful flight here-—much more will be coming shortly.
Armadillo’s success means that we are guaranteed to give out at least the $1 million Level Two, First Place prize this year. We still have several other teams signed up to compete for additional prize money. With successful attempts, they could claim the Level One, Second Place Prize ($150,000); the Level Two, Second Place Prize ($500,000); or even tie or surpass Armadillo in the running for Level Two, First Place Prize ($1,000,000).
New applications for 2009 attempts are being accepted through the close of business tomorrow. As of now, we already have announced 4 additional attempts by two additional teams:
- Masten Space Systems will attempt to claim purses in both levels from Mojave, CA, on September 15-16 (Level One), October 7-8 (Level Two), and October 28-29 (Level Two).
- Unreasonable Rocket will attempt to claim purses in both levels from Cantil, CA, on Oct 30-31.
These teams and others were out eagerly testing even as Armadillo was conducting their flight attempts. Team Masten--which has a window coming up just two days from now--conducted two successful ~100 second flights this Sunday, demonstrating the flight duration requirements for Level One of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.
Masten Sept 13th, Flight #2
You can follow the action right here on the Launch Pad, or on Twitter via the @NGLLC09 account. As with Armadillo's attempt, we'll be collecting high quality video for rapid release after the flights, and will be tweeting and sending out pictures as often as possible during the attempts themselves. If you are tweeting about the competition, please use the #NGLLC hashtag!
We are extremely grateful to NASA's Centennial Challenges, Northrop Grumman, Spaceport America (which played host to the first three years of this event), and to all of our teams and fans for their support in this prize program. The impact our nation’s space program will be incredibly positive, and it is wonderful to be making such an impact with the help of such fantastic partners.
Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
Note: I delayed posting this to The Launch Pad so I wouldn't bump the great Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge content right after it was posted. If you missed it, see the posts below!
Of course you've heard the big news on Armadillo's flights this weekend:
Armadillo Aerospace did it! - RLV News
Armadillo flight video - RLV News
Dramatic photos from Caddo Mills - RLV News (go to full screen size for these pictures!)
Other teams are also busy:
@mojaverocketguy - Spent most of the day out in the desert helping fly a Xombie. Making progress, but Murphy is extracting his pound of flesh along the way.
@wikkit - The team got in one flight today, again taking off from the ground and landing on the ground. Again on tether. More flights every day.
@http://twitpic.com/heg91 - Did you know that you can make bubbles of molten concrete?
@unrocket - Getting ready to go out to FAR tonight. We will try to teter hover the blue ball for 90 seconds some time Sunday Morning.
At far all nonhazardous setup complete. 87F gusting to30mph humuidity < 20 %
Blue ball 106 sec stable tethered hover!!!
@NGLLC09 - Direct quote from Armadillo's Neil Milburn: "Go, Xombie, go!" Good luck, Masten and Unreasonable!
Space Elevator Games
Climber / Power-Beaming update - The Space Elevator Blog
Quick update - The Space Elevator Blog - A test of the new helicopter/tether scheme was successful, allowing additional steps to be taken towards the Power Beaming competition itself.
Helicopter Testing, Version 2 - LaserMotive - This includes a number of pictures of the testing.
Here's the LaserMotive twitter account. I added this to the twitter list and latest tweets panel.
Power Beaming Challenge update - RLV News - This also includes a picture of the testing.
Gallery of Photos from 2009 Tether Challenge - NASA Centennial Challenges
Student Competitions
Mars Society opens University Rover Challenge 2010 - Space for All - The 2010 competition includes 2 new rover jobs: Equipment Servicing and Sample Return.
Spacegirls present extraordinary space project at ASTRON - ASTRON - Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy posts about the winners of the Dutch CanSat competition
Since the MoonBots competition involves LEGO, I thought I'd pass along the following post from Maximizing Progress: Beyond The Brick ~ LEGO Toys Renaissance!
Google Lunar X PRIZE
The next 3 are from the Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams page:
Upcoming AIAA Space 2009 Conference - Next Giant Leap will be at the conference
The GLXP Panorama in One Shot - White Label Space on a camera with a curved mirror
TWO SYNERGY MOON X PRIZE TEAM MEMBERS TO FLY ORBITAL MISSION - SYNERGY MOON on a mission that Interorbital Systems plans
N-Prize
@fineri - Successfull Igniter test tonight, had flames, yay!! this is my first bi-prop i guess you could say! video soon....
http://twitpic.com/hjrb7 - Igniter V1.5 test from last night, still from video.
Video of 2nd igniter test, V1.5, http://bit.ly/3U8Bmm
Regolith Excavation Challenge
@paulsrobotics - http://yfrog.com/0b4gpbj
http://yfrog.com/0ah6aj
I uploaded a YouTube video -- Moonraker - First Dig Test http://bit.ly/6Fb6e
@Regolith_Chal - The FAQ has been updated. Posted some new info about the comm link and other info.
For those wondering: revisions to the FAQ can be viewed if you log in.
For your viewing pleasure, here are the two flights conducted by Armadillo Aerospace yesterday. With this success, Armadillo is in position to win the $1 million Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge - Level Two, First Place prize.
We offer our heartiest congratulations to Armadillo--and our best wishes to the other teams. We look forward to attending launches by team Masten, team Unreasonable Rocket, and perhaps others in the coming weeks. Reminder: the last day to register is Tuesday!
More camera angles--including some beautiful video from the onboard cameras--will be coming soon. Without further ado:
Many thanks to our friends at NASA, Northrop Grumman, and Spaceport America, without whom this wonderful program never could have happened.
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