Lunar lunacy - X-prize lifts off! - November 02, 2009
Progress is being made in the Northrop Grumman lunar lander challenge, part of the X-prize to And you can see it!
Over the weekend attempts were made to collect some of the loot in the prize purse, and Team Masten Space Systems, from Mojave, California, succeeded. This bags the company $1 million for their successful take off, flying around and landing again on a simulated lunar surface.
Here a short film of the second attempt.
Another valiant attempt was made by Unreasonable Rocket, a father-and-son team consisting of Paul and Paul Breed (according to NASA Watch). Their vehicle made a great attempt at the slightly less hard level 1 test (no fake lunar rocks and obstacles in the way, just a flat landing pad) but ran out of fuel at the last minute, causing it to land with a thump and break a leg.
Check it out below the fold.
