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The future will take to the skies over New Mexico next month as teams compete in the Lunar Lander Challenge sponsored by NASA under their Centennial Challenges program. This effort uses prize contests to stimulate creativity and competition in solar system exploration, tapping the talents of non-traditional sources of innovation in academia, industry and the public. Teams of rocketeers are readying their vehicles for the Lunar Lander Challenge to be held live October 20-21 at the Las Cruces International Airport in southern New Mexico. The Vertical Lander Challenge (VLC) and Lunar Lander Challenge (LLC) presented by NASA are designed to...

NASA unveiled its biggest and best space prize ever ten days ago, at the National Space Society’s biggest citizen space event ever, ISDC 2006 in Los Angeles. NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale announced the space agency’s contribution of $2 million in prize money to the Lunar Lander Analog Challenge. The competition will be managed by the X Prize Foundation and first staged at X Prize Cup 2006 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The X Prize press release handed out after the announcement spoke of a richer pot: “X Prize Foundation and NASA offer $2.5 million Lunar Lander Challenge.”

The Heinlein Prize is a $500,000 prize whose purpose is to reward the person or persons who achieve practical accomplishments in the field of commercial space activities. This is a significant sum of money and this author’s prior article on the subject (see “Choosing candidates for the Heinlein Prize”, The Space Review, February 6, 2006) appears to have attracted a fair amount of attention, judging from mail and calls received. It appears useful to discuss the Heinlein Prize in context to other similar prizes such as the Nobel, Lemelson, and Draper Prizes. The hope is that any individuals who are...

They are not international and there are not going to be any gold, silver, or bronze medals, but the Centennial Challenge s program is competition at the highest level. Ever since Peter Diamandis revived the idea of prizes back in 1996 with the X Prize (later renamed the Ansari X Prize) the concept has been slowly taking hold in the US and elsewhere, first with the DARPA Grand Challenge for robotic vehicles and Robert Bigelow’s America’s Space Prize, and now with these NASA prizes. Before the US Congress passed the NASA authorization bill in December of last year, the space...

NASA is drawing up plans for six new Centennial Challenges as part of the agency’s series of contests that offers cash prizes for technological achievements. The space agency is seeking comments from potential competitors and partners on draft rules for each of the proposed new Centennial Challenges. The contests range from the development of affordable spacesuits to launching fuel pods into orbit or flying a controllable vehicle driven by a solar sail. Prizes for the planned challenges, which are not yet finalized, could range from $500,000 for the spacesuit contest to $5 million for the fuel pod contest, according to...

In late 2003 Virginia Heinlein passed away, leaving intact a considerable estate from her work and that of her late husband, the prolific author Robert Heinlein. One of the bequests from the estate was the creation of the Robert Heinlein Prize for commercial space. The purpose of the prize is to reward the person or persons who achieve practical accomplishments in the field of commercial space activities. It is my contention that several substantial events in the last 50 years have passed this test and that several highly deserving individuals from separate eras and events merit this award. It is...

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Congress agreed to terms on NASA legislation formally endorsing the plan to return man to the moon and expanding a prize program inspired in part by the Ansari X Prize. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Act of 2005, agreed to by negotiators of both the Senate and House of Representatives, formally incorporates the "Vision for Space Exploration" announced in January 2004 by President George W. Bush, directing a new moon mission program. The bill's language directs a "sustained human presence on the moon" as a means to provide a steppingstone for future missions to...

The X Prize Foundation has completed a study on how the Federal Government—NASA—can establish cash prizes to spur human-carrying orbital spacecraft. A Human Orbital Vehicle (HOV) challenge would build upon NASA’s Centennial Challenges program. Presently, however, that effort is limited in the size of prizes offered by the space agency, now no greater than $250,000. NASA’s Centennial Challenges are contests to stimulate innovation and competition in solar system exploration and ongoing NASA mission objectives. Numbers of Centennial Challenges have already been put in place, from tether and beam power competitions to astronaut glove development and making oxygen out of the...

The news that NASA is talking to the X Prize Foundation about supporting a series of Centennial Challenge competitions to encourage the design of rockets for use on the Moon is pretty good news. If all goes well, NASA will offer a purse—perhaps a million dollars or more—to the winning team. The only question is, what exactly is the prize for? According to the NASA press release there will in fact be two prizes “tentatively named the Suborbital Payload Challenge and the Suborbital Lunar Lander Analog Challenge.” Both the space agency and the foundation are expected to work out the...

Masten Space Systems announced Wednesday that it strongly supported the recent agreement between NASA and the X Prize Foundation to develop two suborbital Centennial Challenges and that, pending announcements on rules, it looked forward to participating. While the two new Challenges are restricted to suborbital ranges, they represent increases in altitude and technology that push the marketplace forward. The Suborbital Payload Challenge is a prize for the first team to achieve altitudes useful to scientific research payloads, such as astronomical and atmospheric research instruments and longer-duration micro-gravity experiments. These altitudes are typically in excess of 200 kilometers and as high...

Oct. 10, 2005 — The fledging personal spaceflight industry got a boost from a seasoned partner on Sunday as NASA pledged funding for another round of private suborbital space ventures during an exhibition focused on passenger spaceships for non-astronauts. As part of its Centennial Challenges program, which awards teams cash prizes for specified technology demonstrations, the U.S. space agency announced two new contests, tentatively called the Suborbital Payload Challenge and the Suborbital Lunar Landing Analog Challenge. Details and the amount of the award prizes have not yet been determined.

NASA announced Tuesday a $250,000 prize for the team that can win a lunar dirt-digging contest that will take place here on Earth. The competition will pit robots to see which can excavate the most lunar regolith (a fancy word for soil) and deliver it to a collector. The challenge will be held in late 2006 or early 2007.

NASA has promised a cool $250,000 for the first team capable of pulling breathable oxygen from mock moon dirt, the latest award in the space agency’s Centennial Challenges program.

Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World. — Christopher Columbus We stand at the edge of a precipice looking up 400,000 kilometers to the Moon. It’s two light-seconds away, yet it might as well be 15 light-years away. No human missions to the Moon are planned until 2020 and none have been undertaken since 1972. This is not the legacy I was promised.