spacetoday.net: Masten vehicle qualifies for Lunar Lander Challenge prize

Posted: Thu, Oct 8, 2009, 6:25 AM ET (1025 GMT)
Masten Xombie flight (X PRIZE)

A vehicle developed by a small California company successfully qualified for a $150,000 prize that is part of NASA's Centennial Challenges program. Masten Space Systems flew its XA-0.1B or "Xombie" vehicle at the Mojave Air and Space Port on Wednesday, meeting all the requirements of Level 1 of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Masten is vying for the $150,000 in second-place prize money available this year; Armadillo Aerospace won the $350,000 first prize last year. Masten will not know until the end of this money if it wins the prize, as two other teams, BonNova and Unreasonable Rocket, are also completing and will not fly their vehicles until late this month. Should another team also fly a Level 1 profile, landing accuracy will be used as the tiebreaker. Masten also plans to fly another vehicle to compete in the Level 2 challenge late this month.