GOLDEN,
Colorado - What goes up, must come down—but tenderly and precisely. That's
part of the rules for the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.
The
Challenge is a major head-turning event at the upcoming Holloman Air &
Space Expo in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The countdown clock is ticking as the Oct.
27-28 expo draws closer, staged in collaboration with the Wirefly
X Prize Cup.
At this
year's Cup, the Northrop Grumman Lunar
Lander Challenge will see rocketeers vying for $2 million in prizes that
are on the line - cash made available through NASA's Centennial Challenges
Program. That space agency funding is focused on speeding up commercial
development of technology that can ferry cargo and humans between the moon's
surface and lunar orbit.
Roster
of rocket teams
The
competition is divided into two levels. Here are the basics:
- Level 1
requires a rocket to take off from a designated launch area, rocket up to
150 feet (50 meters) altitude, and then hover for 90 seconds while landing
precisely on a landing pad nearly 330 feet (100 meters) away. The flight
must then be repeated in reverse - and both flights, along with all of the
necessary preparation for each, must take place within a two and a half
hour period.
- Level 2
requires the rocket to hover for twice as long before landing precisely on
a simulated lunar surface, packed with craters and boulders to mimic
actual lunar terrain. The hover times are calculated so that the Level 2
mission closely simulates the power needed to perform a real lunar
mission.
The roster
of rocket teams that entered this year's Challenge:
Acuity
Technologies of Menlo Park, California; Armadillo
Aerospace of Mesquite, Texas; BonNova of Tarzana, California; Masten Space
Systems based in Mojave, California; Micro-Space of Denver, Colorado; Paragon
Labs of Denver, Colorado; SpeedUp of Laramie and Chugwater, Wyoming; and
Unreasonable Rocket based in Solana Beach, California.
That's
eight individual teams, with a ninth "mystery team" withdrawing rather than
having their identity publicly revealed.
Acuity
and Armadillo
"At this
point, it looks like there are two teams that still have a chance to fly...Acuity
and Armadillo," said Will Pomerantz, director of Space Projects for the X Prize
Foundation. "Both have work to do between now and the Cup and, as is the nature
of such a competition, new issues are continually arising for all parties," he
told SPACE.com.
Pomerantz
added that all those involved in the Challenge are getting quite good at
quickly solving problems as they crop up, be they from Holloman Air Force Base,
the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space
Transportation, as well as X Prize Cup officials.
Armadillo
still hopes to bring their two different vehicles, Pixel in Level Two, and "the
MOD" in Level One. Acuity is building two substantially similar vehicles,
called "Tiger" and "Cardinal".
A Pomerantz
prognostication: "We're confident that one of these teams will win at least one
of the prizes this year!"
Almost all
of the teams that are part of the competition—even though a majority of them
are not going to actually fly their craft—should show up in one fashion or
another, Pomerantz said, proudly displaying their varying vehicles.
Lunar
leg up?
Acuity
Technologies is led by Robert Clark, who founded the company in 1992. The team,
which has previously designed unpiloted aerial vehicles for the Department of
Defense, hopes that the lightweight
craft they have concocted will give them an advantage in the Challenge.
Armadillo
Aerospace is powered by John Carmack, founder of id Software. They are the
only team to fly a vehicle in last year's Challenge, arguably giving them a
lunar leg up on the rocket rivalry. Additionally, they have backed that view by
repeat flights throughout the year of hardware to shake out control procedures
and the technology itself.
And while
lunar vehicles are being prepped by their respective teams, pads for the
competition are being installed at Holloman. All five pads for this year's
contest were generously donated by Mesa Verde Enterprises, Inc. of Alamogordo,
New Mexico, Pomerantz noted. "They took a lot pride in the lunar surface...which
looks fantastic."
Here
comes the judging
Six judges—with more than 200 years of space experience between them—will oversee
the competition, deciding a winner of the competition and other elements of the
$2 million prize.
The judges
are: Ed Bock, retiree and consultant to Lockheed Martin; Richard C. Dunne,
consultant to Northrop Grumman Corporation; Bill Gaubatz, former head of the
Delta Clipper Experimental (DC-X) reusable rocket program; John Herrington,
Vice President of Rocketplane and former shuttle astronaut; S. Pete Worden, Center
Director for NASA's Ames Research Center; and Jeff Zweber of the Air Force
Research Lab's Space Vehicles Directorate.
As chief
judge, Gaubatz underscored the fact the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
is a key element of a great contest, "the race to open space for business and
pleasure, as well as to sustain a long term science and exploration thrust that
will expand the universe in which we live, work, and play."
Gaubatz
feels that those involved in the competition are part of the worldwide band of
entrepreneurs and innovators "that are validating the efficacy of the new
private space sector to design, build, and operate safe, reliable, and cost
effective systems that can open and sustain space based commerce." The
evolution of commercial space operations, he added, will one day soon allow
NASA to exploit that capability for carrying-out operations for the space
agency's space science and exploration programs.
Eat,
sleep and dream
"It has
been an excellent competition. In fact, perhaps it has been the best
competition that we've run ... in terms of having a very high-percentage of the
teams doing substantive work," Pomerantz suggested.
Although
each of the teams took on the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
differently, was there a common thread between the groups?
"Passion,"
Pomerantz responded.
"In talking
with these eight teams, it's clear that they are all absolutely thrilled about
what they are doing ... spending all night, every night and all weekend, every
weekend working on this," Pomerantz said. "These people eat, sleep and dream
this stuff. Their love for their projects absolutely shows and is certainly
reflected in their work."
For the
latest information regarding the October 27-28 Wirefly X Prize Cup and Holloman
Air and Space Expo, go to the Internet web site: http://space.xprize.org/x-prize-cup/
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