NASA Centennial Challenges Won in 2009

NASA prize monies are being won in 2009 with the Regolith Excavation Challenge yielding $750,000 and the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge on the cusp of handing out over one million more in prize dollars leaving NASA seeking new prize challenges in technology to explore in 2010. The Economist has an article discussing the NASA lunar prize entitled "Space hopper" looking at the prize incentives from a government agency. The video above is of the first qualifying flight of the Masten Space Systems vehicle 'Xombie' in the 2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.