John Carmack's Armadillo Aerospace has won the first phase of Northrop Grumman's Lunar Lander Challenge. Level One, which Armadillo achieved on Saturday, requires a candidate lunar vehicle to take off from a designated launch area, ascend to 150 feet altitude, hover there for 90 seconds, land safely at a landing spot 150 feet from the launch site, then make a successful return performance within 2 hours. Level Two, which Armadillo's Pixel One attempted on Sunday but did not succeed at, increasess the required hover time to 180 seconds and ups the ante with a cratered, boulder-strewn simulated lunar surface.
(Remember that the contest necessarily takes place under full Earth gravity, while actual lunar maneuvers would take place under approximately one-sixth G, so this is a tougher test than it may at first seem.)