Northrup Grumman

Build a lunar lander contest

Posted October 25th, 2007 by G Kontos

Moon Colony | Northrup Grumman

Contest Name:

Wirefly X Prize Cup

Sponsors:

Northrup Grumman

Contest Date:

2007 Oct 28

General Info:

Next week is the Northrup Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, a part of the NASA centennial challenges program. Teams will compete for $2 million in prize money. There are nine teams in the competition, but according to the MSNBC article only two have a chance of completing the competition.

There are two levels to the competition:
Level 1 requires a rocket to take off from a designated launch area, rocket up to 150 feet (50 meters) altitude, and then hover for 90 seconds while landing precisely on a landing pad nearly 330 feet (100 meters) away. The flight must then be repeated in reverse — and both flights, along with all of the necessary preparation for each, must take place within a two and a half hour period.

Level 2 requires the rocket to hover for twice as long before landing precisely on a simulated lunar surface, packed with craters and boulders to mimic actual lunar terrain. The hover times are calculated so that the Level 2 mission closely simulates the power needed to perform a real lunar mission.

read more | add new comment | Visit MSNBC

Northrup Grumman Buys Scaled Composites

Posted July 23rd, 2007 by G Kontos

Current Events | Northrup Grumman | Private Space Travel | Scaled Composites

Northrup Grumman has agreed to increase their stake in Scaled Composites from 40% to 100%. Effectively buying out Scaled Composites. Scaled Composites is the aerospace company run by Burt Rutan, the engineer who helped develop SpaceShipOne -- the winner of Ansari X-prize to build the first private craft to travel into space. SpaceShipOne became the for Virgin Galactic's space ship design. In fact, Scaled Composites has the contract to deliver Virgin Galactic's space tourism craft and launch vehicle. There is no word on if the buyout will effect this contract.

add new comment | Visit MSNBC

NASA's 14th Great Moonbuggy Race

Posted December 30th, 2006 by G Kontos

Current Events | Earth Based Projects | NASA | Northrup Grumman

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Dec. 15 -- NASA is searching for the
next generation of space explorers to participate in the fun, exciting and
educational challenge of designing and building their own version of NASA's
lunar rover or "moonbuggy" to compete in NASA's 14th Great Moonbuggy Race.
This annual event will be held at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in
Huntsville, Ala., and is sponsored by the Northrop Grumman Corp of Los
Angeles. The high school competition will be Friday, April 13, 2007, with
the college competition scheduled for Saturday, April 14.
College and high school students from across the country will put their

A good year for space programs

Posted December 30th, 2006 by G Kontos

It was a good year for the Earth's space programs. So good, that I jumped on the bandwagon. This article contains a lot of great information about the highlights of space exploration in 2006.

Aceize is founded, 150 year business plan set in motion.
Bigelow Aerospace launches their first inflatable module onboard a Russian SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missle
Anousheh Ansari travels to space. The deal was brokers by Virginia Based 'Space Adventures'
Several launch services promote international cooperation including; International Launch Services (a U.S.-Russian venture), and Europe’s Arianespace and United Launch Alliance.