Lunar Lander Challenge Update

Still a challenge - The Space Review - Jeff Foust gives an update on the Lunar Lander Challenge, including an overview of the teams that presented at Space Access '09 and prospects for this year's competition.

4/23/2009: Hybrid Catalyst Test - SpeedUp - This includes a video on the left that might be easy to overlook (as it's a text link).

Unreasonable update - RLV News

Prize Roundup - April 12, 2009

Video interview with John Carmack - RLV News points to a Personal Spaceflight interview of John Carmack at what looks like the pool next to the Space Access conference room at the Grace Inn.

Nick Fontaine ~ MIT IDEAS Competition Inspires! - Maximizing Progress

Win Lunch with Legend Astronaut John Glenn in a Charity Auction - SpaceRef -

Hall of Fame Astronaut John Glenn is putting himself on the auction block to raise money for college scholarships for top engineering and science students through the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's online Auction of Astronaut Experiences & Memorabilia opening today at www.astronautscholarship.org/auction.pl.
...
The Glenn lunch is one of eight astronaut experiences featured in this auction. Bidders also have the opportunity to win astronaut autographs from the likes of Neil Armstrong and artifacts that flew in outer space and to the surface of the moon! More than 50 astronauts in all have donated items from their personal collection or signed artifacts for this worthy endeavor.

4th Annual Workshop and Flight Competition - US - European MAV -

The IMAV09 flight competition is made up of two distinct competition events:

The first is an indoor event designed to test the capabilities of flapping wing, rotary wing, and VTOL micro air vehicles against various challenges faced in indoor or urban environments. These challenges range from autonomous operations in confined spaces created by the interior of a building, to controlled navigation through wind gusts, to automated maneuvering and control.

The second is an outdoor event designed for fixed wing, rotary wing, and VTOL micro air vehicles. The set of challenges associated with the outdoor event tests the capabilities of the system to operate in open areas at a distance and to effectively utilize onboard/off-board sensors to meet various technical requirements.

Prize Roundup - April 11, 2009

Ok, I'm back online. I'm going to make this a RoundUp post to cover the last few days.

Top teams set for final round of Team America Rocketry Challenge - Rocketry Planet (AIA press release) -

The top 100 student rocketry teams in the country are ready for the final round of competition of the Team America Rocketry Challenge next month after AIA announced the qualifiers for the fly-off on Friday.

Here are the finalists. Is a high school near you one of them?

Robert Richards and Odyssey Moon BOTH nominated for World Technology Awards! - Odyssey Moon (Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams site)

Robots: The Race to the Moon - Robots Podcast -

In this episode, we take-off for the moon with Prof. William "Red" Whittaker who is the director of the Field Robotics Center at Carnegie Mellon University in the US.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! - SEDS INDIA blog -

Congratulations to SEDS VIT for winning "The Best Student Chapter Award" of VIT University, Vellore for the year 2008-09.

Spacehack now has an entry on the Regolith Excavation Challenge.

X PRIZE Foundation, WellPoint, to Announce Initial Design for Potential $10 Million X PRIZE to Revolutionize U.S. Health Care - X PRIZE Foundation

Prize4Life Interview with Makers of ALS Film Trapped - Prize4Life blog

RLV News has a number of prize posts, including several on the Space Access '09 conference:

Symantec contest awards ZERO-G & suborbital space flights Space Access'09 review - Space prizes and prize teams appear throughout the conference summary, links, and slide presentation.

Briefs: Space Adventures interview; Space border; SA'09 picts -The Space Access '09 pictures include a bunch of the Lunar Lander Challenge panel.

Briefs: Microlaunchers; Orphans of Apollo - A link to the Space Access '09 Microlaunchers N-Prize talk is included.

BonNova SA'09 presentation

Space Access '09 Prize Posts

Unlike the last 2 years I'm not at Space Access this year, so I won't be summarizing the prize talks. I'll link to the summaries I see, though. I plan to update this post as the conference proceeds.

Notes: Space Access'09: Thursday - Evening session - Part 2 - RLV News - This one covers

Unreasonable Rocket - Lunar Lander Challenge competitor:

- Will pursue both 90sec and 180sec NG-LLC levels this year.
- Looking past NG-LLC to more rocket building.
- New amateur rules greatly ease testing
- Plan to go to go to 100km with a few kg payload.
- Believe there is a market for such a vehicle and this sort of launch service.
- Also, want to sell various components and engineering services.

and

Microlaunchers - N-Prize competitor:

- Work up from ground tests, to low altitude, to 100km, and then to orbit.
...
- Hardware component costs alone are in $1000 range.

Space Access 2009 - Paul Breed - Unreasonable Rocket - Why Homeschool:

Paul blogs about their experience at his blog Unreasonable Rockets. They had a rocket just outside the conference room here in Phoenix.

Space Access 2009 - Charles Pooley - N-Prize - Why Homeschool

Notes: Space Access'09: Friday - Morning - Part 2 - RLV News - This one includes Lunar Lander Challenge team High Expectations Rocketry.

Space Access 2009 - Keith Stormo - High Expectations Rocketry - Why Homeschool

Notes: Space Access'09: Friday - Afternoon - Part 2 - RLV News - Lunar Lander teams BonNova and TrueZer0 are featured.

Space Access 2009 - Bob Noteboom - BonNova - Why Homeschool

Space Access 2009 - Scott Zeeb and Todd Squires - TrueZer0 - Why Homeschool

Notes: Space Access'09: Friday - Evening - RLV News - Kiwi 2 Space (N-Prize team) is in this one. There are two sites to check: - the Kiwi 2 Space website (recently started) and the Kiwi 2 Space blog.

Space Access 2009 - Iain Finer, N-Prize Contestant: Team Kiwi 2 Space - Why Homeschool

Armadillo - Transterrestrial Musings -

Lunar Challenge has been beneficial, but has also been a distraction from their goals, and the revenue makes it worthwhile in hindsight. Will be competing for Level Two this year, and they hope to make their attempts from their home field when season begins in July.

Notes: Space Access'09: Saturday Morning - Part 2 - RLV News - This includes Armadillo Aerospace.

Space Access 2009 - John Carmack - Armadillo Aerospace - Why Homeschool

Masten Space Systems - Transterrestrial Musings

Notes: Space Access'09: Saturday afternoon - Part 1 - RLV News. This one includes Masten Space Systems:

- May go for NG-LLC level 1

and Speed Up:

- Laramie Rose NG-LLC vehicle
-- Operating in Armadillo mode was the goal but difficult to keep up to a similar pace without same resources.
-- Behind Unreasonable Rocket so will probably won't compete for Level I.
-- Not in Level II capability.
-- But want to achieve at least short sustained hover

Space Access 2009 - Dave Masten of Masten Space - Why Homeschool

Space Access 2009 - Bob Steinke - SpeedUp - Why Homeschool

Notes: Space Access'09: Saturday afternoon - Part 2 - RLV News - The conference ends with an all-star cast:

Paul Breed and son, Ben Brockert, John Carmack, Dave Masten, Keith Stormo, Bob Steinke, Scott Zeeb, Todd Squires, Bob Noteboom, Allen Newcomb, Lunar Lander Challenge panel

They discussed Lunar Lander Challenge plans:

-- Bonnova - will to compete in Level I and II this year
-- Steinke - not this year
-- TrueZer0 - not this year
-- Zeeb - Ask in a couple of months. Depends on funding.
-- Masten - will depend on status of vehicle.
-- Carmack:
-- Make attempt soon after window opens. Will go after Level II. Not going after Level I, second place.
-- Remember that nobody has Level I wrapped up. Just as with Armadillo in 2006-2007, problems can arise that prevent the favorite from winning.
- Armadillo had done many flights prior to competition yet still didn't win in those years.
- Breed - expect to go after Level I with Blue Ball. Not sure if they can have a Level II vehicle ready.

They also discussed a lot of other important topics, like rocketry details and future business and personal plans for the teams.

Space Access 2009 - Panel on Lunar Lander Challenge - Why Homeschool

Updates on 2 N-Prize Space Access Presenters

Here are some recent posts from Team Prometheus:

Prometheus Get's a Lathe!

Lathe #2

Near Space ground tracking station

Meanwhile, Kiki 2 Space has started a new website.

Space Access 2009 Pre-Conference Schedule

The Space Access Society site was updated today with the latest Preliminary Program Schedule. The program now includes tentative times for the talks, as well as some new talks. It looks like the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge and the N-Prize both are still going to be featured heavily. Some of the talks related to prizes (past or current teams, or programs that feature contests) include:

Thursday April 2nd
4:30 Unreasonable Rocket/Paul Breed (... and by the way RLV News has the latest from Unreasonable Rocket)
5:25 SpeedUp/Bob Steinke
9:00 Monroe King, N-Prize Contestant: Team Prometheus/Aeronautic Enterprises Inc.

Friday April 3rd
4 pm BonNova/Bob Noteboom
4:45 TrueZer0/Scott Zeeb and Todd Squires
8:50 Iain Finer, N-Prize Contestant: Team Kiwi 2 Space
9:10 Ed Wright, Teachers in Space's Astronaut Teacher Course Design Workshop

Saturday April 4th
11:20 Armadillo Aerospace/John Carmack
2:40 Masten Space/Dave Masten
4:55 Charles Pooley, N-Prize Contestant: Microlaunchers

That's just a sampling of the program; see the above link for the rest of the schedule. There are a lot more that sound interesting; for example, "NASA Ames Human Tended Suborbital Science/Yvonne Cagle and Bruce Pittman". Here's a link to the NASA Ames SUBORBITAL EX site (EX standing for EXperiences, EXperiments, and EXplorations). Irene Klotz noted a couple months ago about some preliminary human-tended suborbital science proposals being reviewed by NASA that "... a decision about which projects will receive funding for additional study is expected around March."

Here are some recent related Space Show radio interviews:

N-Prize's Dr. Paul Dear

Henry Vanderbilt on the Space Access conference and related topics

Space Access 2009 - Who is Going?

Space Access 2009 - Why Homeschool -

Long time readers know that each Spring I head to Arizona to attend Space Access 2009. This year I'll again fly with my father. One of my brothers will join us in Phoenix.

As for me at Space Prizes, I went the last 2 years, but I doubt I'll go this year, as there's a lot to do at home with a 6-month-old who we've just found out has allergies.

Also, the list of speakers at Space Access '09 was updated yesterday.

Prize Teams Make Strong Showing at Space Access '09

Space Access '09 Conference - RLV News - In addition to the talks with prize connections (that I detect; there may be others) that I listed in my post on Space Access '09 Program Additions, the latest update on the list of confirmed Space Access '09 speakers includes the following:

Charles Pooley/Microlaunchers (and other N-Prize contestants)
TrueZer0/Scott Zeeb and Todd Squires

TrueZero is a Lunar Lander Challenge team, so if my count is correct the LLC has a very strong showing of 6 (past and present?) teams at the conference this year. Maybe with so many LLC teams there will be some kind of meeting with X PRIZE Foundation and/or NASA Centennial Challenges representatives? That's what I'd do, at least.

In the "other N-Prize contestants" department, as noted here, Kiwi 2 Space was at Space Access '08 and plans to be there for '09.

Space Prize Roundup - February 17, 2009

Pittsburgh Innovates - Pop City: Red Whittaker of Google Lunar X PRIZE team Astrobotic joins the National Academy of Engineering:

Dr. William “Red” Whittaker, founder of the Field Robotics Center at Carnegie Mellon University, and John Swanson, ANSYS founder and University of Pittsburgh engineering alumnus and trustee, joined the illustrious national panel, an honor that will give them a voice on important issues to Congress and the Obama administration.

Initial Designs - Kiwi 2 Space - Some early engineering thoughts on an N-Prize entry are shown. The author plans to be at Space Access 2009. Maybe he can hash out some of his ideas there. Here's an earlier N-Prize post - there are more on the N-Prize and Space Access 2008 in the archives.

Speaking of Space Access, SpeedUp is listed on the Space Access 2009 speaker list, but where's the SpeedUp Website?

Speaking of the N-Prize, it's featured on Another Food Blog. The N-Prize may not have the biggest cash reward at the end, but they sure know how to live. Additional proof: N-Prize chocolate (from Qi Spacecraft blog).

The Commercial Space Wiki makes an update to the Prize Bookmarks page. You can see it using cswiki twitter id:

Added link to the PRIZES folder, "Prize Bookmarks" page, to 15USC Ch84, "Commercial Space Achievement Award" authorization for DoC's OSC.

The actual change to the PRIZES folder starts like this:

Pub. L. 102-588, title V, Sec. 510, Nov. 4, 1992, 106 Stat. 5129.), aka
15 USC CHAPTER 84 - COMMERCIAL SPACE COMPETITIVENESS Sec. 5808. Commercial Space Achievement Award

It looks like this prize was even awarded fairly recently! This is an excerpt from the Virgin Galactic Newsletter January 2009

Commercial Space Achievement Award - Space Commerce (NOAA)

Space Access '09 Program Additions

The list of past (?) and present Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge teams presenting at Space Access '09 has grown since I posted on it a week or 2 ago. LLC teams now include:

• Armadillo Aerospace/John Carmack
• BonNova/Bob Noteboom
• Masten Space/Dave Masten
• SpeedUp/Bob Steinke
• Unreasonable Rocket/Paul Breed

In addition:

• FAA AST/Ken Davidian

Ken is the former NASA Centennial Challenges manager.

Update (evening): Here are some posts from RLV News featuring two of these Lunar Lander Challenge teams:

Armadillo Aerospace update

Briefs: SA'09 update; Unreasonable Rocket update

Teams at Space Access and Commercial Space Transport Conferences

Space Access '09 Conference - RLV News - Past and present Lunar Lander Challenge teams Armadillo, Masten, and Unreasonable Rocket are on the early draft of the conference schedule.

Speaking of Unreasonable: Unreasonable update - RLV News

12th Annual Commercial Space Transportation Conference - RLV News - The "Wired for Space" session has a lot of prize personalities:

Joshua Neubert, Executive Director, Conrad Foundation, San Francisco, CA
Cassie Kloberdanz, Aerospace Strategic Communications Consultant, Denver, CO
Mike Fabio, Google Liaison and Community Manager, X PRIZE Foundation, Santa Monica, CA
Scott Zeeb, TrueZer0, Chicago, IL
Todd Squires, TrueZer0, Chicago, IL

Space Access '09 Date and Location

I'm keeping my tour of some space advocacy groups going ... here's one where I don't know of specific prize connections yet, but I'd be surprised if prizes like the Lunar Lander Challenge and others didn't find their way into the program:

Space Access '09 Preliminary Info Space Access '09, our upcoming 17th annual conference on the technology, politics, and business of radically cheaper access to space, will take place Thursday April 2nd through Saturday April 4th 2009 at the Best Western Grace Inn in Phoenix Arizona. ... We'll be posting a preliminary conference agenda in the coming weeks.