[Stratofox Announce] XPF announces 2007 LLC contestants, Stratofox supports two so far

[Ian Kluft]

The XPrize Foundation made a press release listing the competitors who
have signed up for this year's NASA-funded Lunar Lander Challenge.             
   http://www.marketwire.com/2.0/release.do?id=744094&sourceType=1

XPF calls it the Northrup Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge because NG is          
who's sponsoring XPF's costs of managing the prize.  NASA let them make
that deal so that the contest wouldn't cost any more taxpayer money than        
what Congress allocated for the prize money.  But it's really one of
NASA's Centennial Challenge prizes, which were inspired by the original         
X Prize.

So far Stratofox has affiliations with two of the teams:

   Masten Space Systems - Dave Masten KG6FNL is a founding member of
   Stratofox.  Stratofox member Pierce Nichols N1UAY is also employed
   at MSS.  Two other Stratofox members are also investors in MSS.
   See http://masten-space.com/ and http://masten-space.com/blog/

   Paragon Labs - Stratofox has been range safety and tracking crew
   for three of Paragon's space launch efforts.  Paragon's Dragoon I
   low-altitude test in June 2003 (located 15 minutes after touchdown
   6.7 miles from the pad) was Stratofox's first chance to prove itself
   after the team was formed under the then-new name.
   See http://www.paragonspace.com/

Stratofox's support will probably consist of at least acting as crew
in rehearsals and at the competition in NM in October.  Other needs
may turn up as well.

We're setting up our ground rules such that Stratofox members (including
new participants who join during the competition) will have to declare
if they have taken sides with one of the teams, and will only be authorized
to receive info for the team they have chosen.  Those who remain neutral
will have the option to help any or all teams that Stratofox supports,
which could grow to include more of the LLC contestants if invited.

As we did when Stratofox supported both sides (CSXT and Paragon) in the
competition for the first amateur launch to 100km in 2003-2004, Stratofox
members and participants will be expected to maintain strict confidentiality.
Like any business or consultant who has clients that compete with each other,
Stratofox members must not allow our organization to be a conduit for any
information between competitors.  Fortunately the teams are keeping it a
friendly competition and do talk with each other directly.

Please support and understand when our members decline to discuss a
competitor even in matters of public record.  It's Stratofox policy
because our team couldn't continue to get invitations for our members
to such cool events without maintaining high standards.