BonNovA Joins Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge

Several weeks ago, it was announced that a Mystery Team (pictured above, in stock photo) had become the fourth group to join the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.

Today, the identity of said team was revealed on The Launch Pad :

Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge continues to heat up, with a FOURTH competitor now officially entered in the race for the remaining purses. Team BonNovA, stationed in Mojave, CA, will be flying their Lauryad I & II vehicles on October 26-27, 2009 at Cantil, CA. We are definitely excited to see what they have in store for the competition.

According to its website, the team includes:

BonNova Chief Engineer Allen Newcomb has over 20 years experience in avionics and designing for extreme environments, such as racecars, (brutal vibration and extreme emi), and oil wells (extreme heat). While working as an avionics engineer at SpaceDev, he designed some of the electronics and all of the Mission Control and Operations Software for CHIPSat. He also designed all of the avionics, flight software, and ground software for SpaceDev’s hybrid rocket engine on Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne.

Creative Director Vanna Bonta and key specialists bring the best of unlimited imagination, innovation, and precision engineering to invention for all applications.

Entrepreneur Daniel Kent, founder of Computer Engineering Group, has over 20 years experience in project development and management creating innovative software and hardware application to provide unique solutions for various business and industrial environments. Having recently sold his business Daniel could not pass up the opportunity to contribute to a challenging hands-on project that combines his passion for flying, technology, and working with his hands.

Engineer Derry O’Donovan has over 30 years experience engineering, designing and building race cars and motor sports equipment.

BonNovA will be competing for both second prize in Level 1 and first prize in Level 2 of the competition. Their competitors are Armadillo Aerospace, Masten Space System, and Unreasonable Rocket.

Armadillo Aerospace won first prize in Level 1 and has completed flights for Level 2. Their competitors have until October 31 to complete flights for both levels.