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http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn9122-lunar-lander-is-nasas-biggest-challenge.htmlNASA will sponsor its largest ever competition – with prizes totalling $2.5 million – to develop rockets capable of landing on the Moon, agency officials announced on Friday.
The "Lunar Lander Challenge" is the latest in the agency's Centennial Challenges programme, which aims to spur technological advances through prize competitions. But the top prizes in previous challenges – which include developing astronaut gloves – have been limited to $250,000.
Now, NASA is upping the ante in a competition to build rockets that can take off from the Moon, reach lunar orbit, and return to the Moon's surface. NASA's own plans call for a multi-stage mission to the Moon, with astronauts in the shuttle's replacement (the Crew Exploration Vehicle) docking with a lunar module and an "Earth departure stage" in Earth orbit.
Then, the entire system is sent to lunar orbit, where the lunar lander will take a crew of four down to the Moon's surface. But the lunar lander is only sketchily designed, says NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries.
NASA's Centennial Challeges Program
http://exploration.nasa.gov/centennialchallenge/cc_index.html
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