Armadillo’s Lunar Lander Challenge launch has been delayed by technical issues: apparently there is some wireless interference disrupting their link to their vehicle. They’re planning to go later this morning; they have a 2.5-hour launch window that opens at 11 am MDT. One team member said they believe they have a 70% chance of winning […]
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Here’s a brief video of the Tripoli launch earlier this morning: We had our first flight event just after 8:15 am MDT, with the launch of a Goddard replica rocket by Tripoli. The launch looked great: However, the rocket’s parachute failed to deploy and it crashed in a cloud of smoke. Armadillo Aerospace is scheduled to fly in about an hour for level one of the […] We’re an hour into the event and not much has happened: everything seems to be running behind schedule. We did have the ceremonial ribbon cutting with Peter Diamandis, Buzz Aldrin, and others at 7 am: Unfortunately, it looked like they used space elevator carbon nanotube material for the ribbon, so it took some time for […] Because the gates for the X Prize Cup opened at 6 am, I thought I should get here as close to 6 as possible, to beat the rush. And beat the rush I did: although there were minor delays getting through the security checkpoint outside the airport, I ended up being the first one in […] I’m heading over to the airport shortly for the X Prize Cup, which begins at the the crack of dawn (almost literally: the event starts at 7 am MDT and sunrise is about 15 minutes later.) In addition to my visit to the fairgrounds to watch the Space Elevator Games qualifying, I also spent some […] Besides the Lunar Lander Challenge, another major aspect of the Wirefly x Prize Cup is the Space Elevator Games, in particular the Climber Competition. I got a look at some of the efforts by teams to qualify for the competition Thursday at the county fairgrounds, a few miles west of the airport. (I had initially […] MSNBC reports that the FAA will make a decision by tomorrow morning on whether Armadillo Aerospace will be allowed to participate in the Lunar Lander Challenge after reviewing data from a test flight Thursday at the airport. The test flight (which, unfortunately, I missed seeing in person) went well, although Armadillo’s Quad vehicle tipped over […] I’m sitting in my hotel room in Las Cruces right now, getting ready for the day’s events. Officially there’s not much on the schedule: there is an “Executive Summit” today in Las Cruces, but the organizers have put a “No Media Allowed” sign on the clubhouse door. (Which is a shame, since the summit agenda […] It was looking a little bleak there for a while about whether anyone would be able to compete for the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge: Flight International posted a story with the discouraging title “FAA could call halt to NASA lunar lander challenge”, and, more ominously, Leonard David reported that Armadillo Aerospace “ran into snags” […] |
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