<div><p>A California-based firm was named winner of a one-million-dollar prize backed by US space agency NASA to design a craft capable of a lunar landing, a statement said Tuesday.</p><p>Masten Space Systems were declared winners of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X-Prize Challenge following a competition in the Mojave Desert last week involving several teams of space entrepreneurs.</p><p>Under the terms of the competition, teams had to launch a rocket and then simulate a lunar landing before refueling and returning to lunar orbit.</p><p>Entries were required to ascend to a height of 50 meters, before landing safely on a replica lunar surface after a minimum of three minutes flying time.</p><p>The X-Prize foundation is also running a competition in conjunction with Google, offering 20 million dollars to the first privately funded team that lands a robot on the Moon and transmits image and data back to Earth.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=62598653&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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