The latest from the media center: Armadillo will try again this afternoon (start time: 12:45 pm MDT) for level 1 of the Lunar Lander Challenge. They have replaced the engine on Mod with one cannibalized from Pixel. There is also the possibility of a third window late this afternoon, around when the air show ends at 5 pm MDT. No definite word yet from challenge managers about whether that will happen and, if so, how (for example, will the public and media be allowed to stay and watch?)
|
||||||
 Armadillo Aerospace’s third bid to win the Level 1 Lunar Lander Challenge failed this morning, again apparently because of continued engine problems. The vehicle appeared to fly well on the first leg of the flight, although the engine may have suffered a hard start on liftoff. On the return flight, the vehicle apparently lifted off briefly (although that was hard to tell from observers on the flightline) and suffered another hard start; Armadillo did a powered abort and landed back on the pad seconds after liftoff. Shortly thereafter they scrubbed for the morning. It appears that Armadillo will try again to win the Level 1 this afternoon, as they try to diagnose the problems with the engine that have plagued them this weekend. Pixel is available for Level 2, presumably, but right now it appears Armadillo will focus on winning Level 1. I’ve uploaded to Flickr a photoset of images from Saturday’s X Prize Cup events. It’s a mix of airshow photos, Lunar Lander Challenge images, and the unveiling of Orbital Outfitters’ commercial spacesuit (more on that in the near future.) Here’s a video I shot of the final Mod flight of the day Saturday, which suffered the engine problem that prevented it from landing successfully. The lander is out of view for the second half of the video, hidden by the terrain (including an unfortunately-placed bush), but you can hear the audio of the play-by-play of the flight and the audience reaction when it was announced the vehicle had not landed safely. I talked briefly with John Carmack of Armadillo Aerospace late this afternoon to find out what happened with their failed bid to win Level 1 of the Lunar Lander Challenge. He said that while they had a fine flight on the first leg of their bid, they found the injector clogged again during preparations for the return flight. They tried to clean it out in the field, but when they finally ignited the engine they had a hard start. Carmack said he initially feared that the hard start destroyed the engine, but it continued to fly, so he decided to get the vehicle over to the other pad as fast as possible and hover, hoping the engine would last 90 seconds. It turns out the engine finally failed at the 82-second mark, causing the vehicle to crash-land but not causing any major damage. Dust did not play a factor in the failure, he said; they’re able to fly by instruments very accurately. Carmack said they will have to replace the engine chamber and a gimbal actuator, but that can be done easily using the spare parts on the other Mod vehicle. They’re also trying to get to the root of the injector problem, which may be caused by fuel contamination. Among the solutions they’re considering is using a filter provided by another LLC team, Unreasonable Rocket. Carmack remains confident that they can win at least Level 1, with a 70% chance of success tomorrow. If they succeed in the morning window, they’ll try for Level 2 in the afternoon; he estimates that they have “only” a 30-40% chance of winning Level 2 if they try Sunday afternoon.  Armadillo came seven seconds and a few meters, it appears, from winning the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Level 1 competition Saturday afternoon at Holloman AFB, NM. The first leg of the flight was flawless, as Mod rose up, translated, and landed on the other pad without incident. After some delays preparing the vehicle for the return flight (a technical issue during propellant loading and pressurization), Mod rose up for the return trip. The vehicle got back to the home pad quickly and hovered over it to build up its flight time to 90 seconds. However, the vehicle appeared to land seven seconds early and tipped over, perhaps because it came down on the edge of or off the pad. The reason for the incident isn’t clear right now, but it may be linked to a loss of visibility caused by kicking up huge clouds of dust during the final hover phase. Also unknown is any damage mod may have sustained. Armadillo has two more chances, Sunday morning and afternoon, to win the Level 1 prize; if they are able to fly and win the Level 1 prize Sunday morning they can still try for Level 2 in the afternoon.  Armadillo Aerospace just left the staging area to head to the launch pad for their second attempt at the Lunar Lander Challenge Level 1. The problem that forced them to scrub the first attempt was with their igniter, which failed to work at the pad this morning. They found foreign debris in the igniter–perhaps shaken into place during the journey from Dallas to New Mexico–and took the vehicle back to the pad to clean it out. The igniter is working well now and they are confident that they’ll be able to win at least the Level 1 challenge by Sunday afternoon. As John Carmack put it, “It would take extraordinarily bad luck not to walk away with at least the Level 1 prize.” Armadillo Aerospace’s first attempt to win Level 1 of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge was scrubbed Saturday morning. Details right now are scarce, but apparently the team encountered some kind of technical problem with the Mod vehicle at the pad that could not be fixed there. As far as we know they will try again early this afternoon in the second (and final) window of the day. I’ve uploaded on Flickr some photos from the media day Friday at the X Prize Cup. There’s a mix of people at the press conference, LLC vehicles on display, and planes practicing their routines for the weekend air show. Oh, and the parachutists who landed on the tarmac a few dozen meters from where a group of us were standing around the LLC exhibits. As for the Lunar Lander Challenge, the centerpiece of the X Prize Cup: Armadillo Aerospace will be flying its Mod vehicle for the Level 1 challenge and the larger Pixel vehicle (which flew last year) for Level 2. If all goes well, Mod will fly Saturday morning and Pixel will fly Saturday afternoon; if both are successful then they may do some demo flights on Sunday even though they’ve captured the prizes. Should they be unsuccessful Saturday morning, they will keep trying again to win Level 1 before going on to Level 2, according to Armadillo’s Neil Milburn. Representatives of several other teams are here as well, including Masten Space, Unreasonable Rocket, and SpeedUp. During the press conference, they estimated that they spent anywhere from a little over $100,000 to $3.5 million (what Armadillo has spent since inception), with 45,000 person-hours spent in aggregate by the teams alone in pursuit of the prize. |
||||||
| Copyright © 2025 NewSpace Journal - All Rights Reserved | ||||||
Recent Comments