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10/25/08 - The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is over for this year. Armadillo Aerospace took home the $350,000 Level One. The team's attempt for the Level Two prize of one million dollars failed, and the Challenge is set to continue with over one million dollars still on the table. BonNova, having developed a novel rocket engine with successful full duration hot-fire test, participated but did not fly in 2008 due to time constraints. The Lauryad will be competing for the Level Two million dollar prize. News about the 2009 competition to be announced. Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge

08/27/08 - BonNova completed a full duration test fire of its Lauryad Level I flight engine. The radiatively cooled graphite engine ran perfectly for 101 seconds with the nozzle glowing first red, then white hot. [Video]

08/06/08 BonNova 2008 Lunar Lander Challenge Northup Grumman Official Site

08/06/08 - The NASA-sponsored 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is announced. Let the games begin! See how Team BonNova matches up to the other teams.

BonNova mascot, Sky.
Photo by: Derry

05/01/08 - Team BonNova unanimously elected their mascot this week, a gold Chow Chow named "Auroara Sky." She beat out all competition and is now an official rocket dog. Sky is seen in this photo at the latest rocket engine test fire. Her duties include attending meetings, overseeing progress of the Lauryad, barking at the moon, and eating as many treats as the team can give her.

04/16/08 - The Lauryad lunar lander rocket engine sustained a successful :54 second hot-fire test using a graphite nozzle. [Video] This demonstrates long duration firing of the flight-weight test engine for the Lauryad Lunar Lander. BonNova has designed and developed an innovative lightweight long-duration multiple start engine, and is filing a provisional patent on the invention.

03/11/08 - Today, the Lauryad lunar lander rocket engine performed five successful hot-fire tests in a row, at increasing power each test. It performed flawlessly. [Video]

X Prize Cup Team profiles - video interview Team BonNova

11/02/07 DAILY KOS, X Prize Cup 2007, Ferris Valyn

10/26/07 WIRED Science Lunar Lander Challenge: the also-rans

BonNova gear at CafePress

09/14/07 BonNova Sets Sight On Real Moon
Rocket engineer Allen Newcomb, who was part of the team behind the SpaceShipOne rocket plane and is now part of the BonNova team in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, told me he's also interested in the real lunar challenge. "Since we have already built a Lunar Lander analog ... we could scale up our design to carry the rover for the new prize," Newcomb said in an e-mail. "We could design and build the rover also, and/or partner with some other team for launch services." Read more at MSNBC Alan Boyle's Cosmic Log: Ups and Downs of the Space Frontier, Google Funds 30 Million Dollar X-Prize

08/28/07 Lauryad engine test-fire successful, updates soon.

07/13/07 Rocket engine hot-fire test. BonNova Channel on YouTube

2007 BonNova Lunar Lander Challenge Northup Grumman Official Site 2007

2007 Lunar Lander Challenge Teams Official site

06/13/07 LUNAR LANDER LINE UP

02/07/07 A Spaceship For Sale On Ebay May Win Half A Million Dollars. A rocket competing in a NASA Lunar Lander competition has been named 'Lauryad,' after the spaceship from American novelist Vanna Bonta's quantum fiction FLIGHT trilogy... Read More

02/06/07 Win a Lunar Lander On eBay!