|
|
It appears that Pixel suffered enough damage that they will not be able to repair it in time to fly again today. Still waiting for official word, but all indications over the radio loop indicate that Armadillo will not try to fly again today. John Carmack said in a brief press conference that this problem was similar to what they had been seeing in recent testing, with the LOX valve opening quickly and the fuel valve slowly. This creates a very lean mixture that caused the nozzle to burn through. They have enough parts to fix the vehicle but decided that they want to step back and figure out what is causing the problem rather than rushing another attempt.
Peter Diamandis hinted that they may try to move up next year’s competition so that Armadillo and other teams don’t have to wait until next October to try again. “I feel like a game show host” when say that Armadillo is walking away with $350,000, for first prize in Level One. “And we hope you return next time to go for the million-dollar award.”
Below: an image of the Pixel engine nozzle that was damaged in this morning’s attempted flight.
Armadillo departed the staging area right on schedule at 7:30 am MDT with the Pixel vehicle. They will be flying at around 8:15-8:30 am to compete for the Level 2 of the Lunar Lander Challenge and its $1 million first prize. More updates as they’re available.
Update 8:30 am MDT: Pixel ignited its engine but appears to have tipped over on its side; perhaps a hard start. Armadillo team is working to depressurize and detank the vehicle.
Update 8:40 am MDT: The morning attempt has been scrubbed. Fuel valve did not open, but LOX valve did, damaging the engine. They have a spare engine and plan to replace it and fly again later today. Below: Armadillo’s crane truck in position after the aborted launch.
I’ve created a Flickr set of images from yesterday’s activities at the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. The picture above, though, probably best represents the mood of people here at the end of the day yesterday when Armadillo Aerospace won the $350,000 first prize for Level 1. They’ll be back at it again today, using Pixel (a veteran of the 2006 LLC) to try and win Level 2. Look for updates throughout the day here and on Twitter.
Armadillo Aerospace has officially won the Level 1 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. The check will actually be awarded in Washington DC at a future date TBD (hopefully two checks, John Carmack said.) The focus for Armadillo now will be Level 2 with their Pixel vehicle. they will have up to three opportunities to win the prize tomorrow, since the midday slot will not be needed by TrueZer0.
More pictures and (hopefully) videos to come tonight.
Armadillo completed a sucecssful return flight this afternoon, remaining in the air about 95 seconds before landing safely. All they need to do at this point is to return the vehicle to the staging area in time to claim the prize, and right now that doesn’t appear to be a problem. There are a lot of very happy people here at Las Cruces right now.
After the TrueZer0 post-mortem this afternoon, the X Prize Foundation announced a judging ruling that positively affected Armadillo’s chances of winning the Level 1 prize. The judges ruled that since Armadillo’s effort this morning was stopped not because they had run out of competition time but instead because of the closure of the FAA airspace window, Armadillo can pick up where they left off this afternoon once the airspace window reopens. This means that they only need to make one successful hop this afternoon to win the prize, provided they do so and return the vehicle to the starting line before the remainder of their time this morning runs out. This certainly makes it easier for them: they only need to make one flight, not two, this afternoon and first prize for Level 1 is theirs.
TrueZer0 has left the staging area and is setting up for their flight attempt, no earlier than 11:30 am MDT (when the FAA window opens). Stay tuned for updates.
Update 12:10 pm MDT: The vehicle took off and flew upwards for several seconds, then lost power and crashed. There was a small fire that was put out, and no injuries reported.
Update 1:45 pm MDT: TrueZer0 team members explained that the vehicle lifted off well, but started spinning faster and faster around its z-axis, forcing them to abort; that turned off the rocket and caused the vehicle to crash. They said the believe the vehicle to be a total loss, but something that only set them back about $10,000. They seem winning to give it a try again next year.
As Armadillo was trying to win Level 1 of the LLC, this press release about a joint venture between Armadillo Aerospace, Rocket Racing Inc., and the state of New Mexico to develop VTVL space tourism vehicles hit the wires:
ROCKET RACING INC., ARMADILLO AEROSPACE AND NEW MEXICO CREATE JOINT VENTURE TO LAUNCH PRIVATE SUBORBITAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION BUSINESS
New York, NY—October 23, 2008—Space took a giant leap closer to earth today, following the launch of a new joint venture between Rocket Racing, Inc. (RRI), Armadillo Aerospace and the government of New Mexico. With a goal of sending adventurers into suborbital space with a target price of $100,000 per ticket or less, the three companies unveiled plans to field a fleet of reusable Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) vehicles (RLV) that will take flight from Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico. Each ship is slated to provide a cabin where passengers can float weightless with a 360-degree view of space. To date, other companies in the commercial space industry have promised rides to similar altitudes featuring small porthole-sized views for more than $200,000.
“I am honored that Rocket Racing, Inc. and Armadillo Aerospace have chosen New Mexico to set up shop,†said Governor Bill Richardson. “Spaceport America and the State of New Mexico are proud partners and together we are writing the next chapter of space transportation.â€
Under the terms of the partnership, Armadillo Aerospace will develop the reusable launch vehicles and provide ground support and equipment. The State of New Mexico will supply launch facility infrastructure and resources. Rocket Racing Technology Development, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rocket Racing Inc., will provide financing for, and business and operational management of, the partnership. Reservations, experience marketing, customer training and the coordination of the passengers’ overall experience will be managed exclusively by a third partner company that will be announced when marketing efforts begin.
“The price of space is coming down to earth,†said Granger Whitelaw, Chief Executive Officer of Rocket Racing, Inc. “And thanks to Armadillo’s ships and New Mexico’s spaceport, human beings will be treated to the most stellar views in the galaxy.â€
While the venture owes its wings to technologies that have spent decades in development, its launch is made possible only through their recent combination. Armadillo’s eight years of research and development on a dozen different flying vehicles is contributing engines, software, and operational capabilities. Meanwhile, the company’s ground and flight test programs for the Rocket Racing League over the past year has resulted in flight research data that will be applied to allow for superior vehicle tracking and passenger safety.
Beyond suborbital space tourism, Rocket Racing Inc. also plans to deploy its vehicles to serve in a variety of payload transport initiatives. Target missions include micro-gravity experiments, astrophysics observations, reconnaissance and high-altitude scientific and meteorological measurements.
The companies plan to fly evolutions of existing vehicles to space and fabricate an initial manned vehicle prototype in 2009 and perform initial manned flights to space in 2010.
Whitelaw is here, along with Carmack, and we’re told NM Governor Richarson will be coming this afternoon for a press conference (perhaps about this). I’ll provide more details as they’re available. The images they did release with the announcement indicate that this is pretty much the same type of vehicle that Armadillo has been planning to do for some time, but now with two passengers instead of one.
Armadillo Aerospace came this close–again–to winning Level 1 of the LLC. This time they ran into problems with their first flight, landing early for reasons not yet clear. They were able to get a second flight in successfully, but when they tried to do a third flight (the return leg needed for the prize) the FAA window for operations at the airport closed. They still had plenty of time in the LLC window, but the FAA required flight ops to end at 9:30 am MDT so that airplane operations could resume. The competition asked for an extension but could not get one, so Armadillo scrubbed their flight. TrueZer0 has the next window starting at 11 am MDT; Armadillo has another window this afternoon that they will presumably use for another level 1 attempt.
Update 10:10 am MDT: John Carmack of Armadillo said in a brief interview that part of their problems was a 20-minute delay leaving the starting line because of organizational delays. That doesn’t affect theie 2.5-hour NGLLC window, but the FAA flight window at the airport is only 90 minutes long (8 – 9:30 am in this case) and inflexible. Also, Carmack said they had a problem with the first flight because they had to detune the engine to meet FAA safety requirements; that meant they couldn’t slow down their descent quickly enough, causing them to touch down early. They compensated for it on their second flight, but could not get the third flight in before the FAA window closed. Carmack said they needed about 10 more minutes to get that third flight in; they would have then plenty of time to get the vehicle back to the starting line to qualify for winning the prize. Armadillo does plan to try for Level 1 again in their afternoon window.
I’m at Las Cruces International Airport, where the first day of the 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is underway. Armadillo is up first to attempt Level 1 with its Mod-1 vehicle. TrueZer0 is scheduled for the midday slot for Level 1, then Armadillo will use Pixel this afternoon for Level 2, if all goes according to plan. (But when does that ever happen?) Stay tuned for occasional updates during the day here or on Twitter.
|
|
Recent Comments