California firm wins $1 mln lunar prize

Posted 11 6 2009 3:01AM

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – A California-based firm was named winner of a one-million-dollar prize backed by US space agency NASA to design a craft capable of a lunar landing, a statement said Tuesday.

Masten Space Systems were declared winners of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X-Prize Challenge following a competition in the Mojave Desert last week involving several teams of space entrepreneurs.

Under the terms of the competition, teams had to launch a rocket and then simulate a lunar landing before refueling and returning to lunar orbit.

Entries were required to ascend to a height of 50 meters, before landing safely on a replica lunar surface after a minimum of three minutes flying time.

The X-Prize foundation is also running a competition in conjunction with Google, offering 20 million dollars to the first privately funded team that lands a robot on the Moon and transmits image and data back to Earth.