Northrop Grumman Corporation is pleased to team up once again with the X PRIZE Foundation to serve as the title sponsor for the 2007 edition of NASA's Lunar Lander Challenge. This engineering competition provides a critical forum and real-time laboratory for entrepreneurs working to develop and prove concepts for space vehicles that can safely ferry humans or cargo back and forth between the lunar surface and lunar orbit. 

Since last year's inaugural competition, NASA has added urgency to the challenge by announcing plans to establish a permanent outpost on the moon beginning in 2020. This outpost will give astronauts and scientists a permanent "home" to conduct research deemed critical to expanding human presence on the moon and beyond. It will also demand breakthroughs in lunar landing technologies and methodologies that can make lunar "comings and goings" more routine.

Northrop Grumman is a company built on a foundation of innovation, entrepreneurial thinking and a passion for meeting customer requirements with safe, reliable systems. These are the same characteristics competitors will need to be successful in the 2007 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. As the company that built the original Apollo Lunar Module, and a partner with NASA since 1958 in exploring the universe, we're excited to see how lessons learned from last year's competition will manifest themselves in new, more robust lander designs. We're also looking forward to seeing the creativity and engineering innovations that new competitors will bring to this challenge in 2007.

The nation and ultimately, the world, will benefit from the willingness of all competitors to invest their time, their knowledge, and their resources in helping NASA succeed in this very important human exploration endeavor.