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 the Level One challenge, and perhaps a 15% chance of winning Level Two. If Level One goes well,m as well as a qualifying test later in the day, they plan to try for Level Two tomorrow.
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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 Lunar Lander Challenge, according to latest reports. 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 them to cut it. But they did succeed:  More to come! 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 the press center at a quarter after six. It’s still pretty quiet here, as attendees trickle in. Now if only there were lights in the tent that serves as the press center: it’s still over a half-hour before sunrise, and I’m typing by the light of my laptop’s display. 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 time at the airport checking out preparations for the event. Things there were in a mild state of chaos, but understandable given all the scale of the event, as well as the fact that some preparations were hours behind schedule because of heavy rain late Wednesday. I have a set of photos on Flickr of various work and other activities, including some scenes from the space elevator qualifying. The weather looks good for today (sunny and mid-70s), although the winds are forecast to pick up a bit (to 10-15 mph) later in the day; hopefully not enough to cause problems for any of the events. I plan to post updates as time, events, and Internet connectivity permit. If you’re not at the event, you can a live webcast of the event via SPACE.com, which also has a special section devoted to the event, including multimedia and breaking news. Alan Boyle will likely also be updating MSNBC’s Cosmic Log at the Cup, as will Clark Lindsey at RLV and Space Transport News and Robin Snelson at Lunar Lander Challenge Blog. 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 headed over there after hearing that Armadillo Aerospace was doing a test firing there, but missed it; I hung around to watch the climbers instead.) I got to see one of the teams, USST, from the University of Saskatchewan, successfully qualify. I even managed to take some video of their successful run: (Now, the first thing you’re probably thinking is, “Hey, it’s sideways!” I shot it sideways, then rotated the video into the proper orientation on my laptop later using QuickTime Pro, only to have YouTube rotate it back into the original orientation. So just hold your head, or your monitor, sideways for a minute.) The commotion about 15 seconds into the video is when one of the spotlights shining light onto the climber toppled. The voice at the end of the video is Ken Davidian of NASA’s Centennial Challenges program, who was standing by me watching the run. If you want to follow the competition, which will go through both days of the Cup, check out the official blog of the Space Elevator Games, which is updated frequently with news, photos, and some audio and video. Also, The Space Elevator Reference is covering the event. 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 on landing (but avoided any damage). With no news about Micro-Space, it appears Armadillo will be the only competitor in the competition this year—assuming all goes well with the FAA. Update: MSNBC has updated their article with the news that the FAA has approved Armadillo’s flights for the challenge. The press release isn’t on the Space Adventures web site, but the company sent out a notice Thursday that the company will be holding a press conference in Seattle next Thursday, the 26th, to formally announce that Charles Simonyi, the former Microsoft executive, will be the next orbital space tourist. According the the release, the press conference will discuss “Details on why the software developer and architect of Microsoft Word and Excel is going to space, his launch date and planned activities while at the International Space Station.” Simonyi will be at the press conference at the Museum of Flight, along with Space Adventures’ Eric Anderson and museum president Bonnie Dunbar (a former astronaut). As noted here earlier this week, Russian officials have already said that Simonyi will fly to the ISS on the next Soyuz taxi flight in April 2007. 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 looks interesting, although I can understand their desire to promote a more open discussion environment without attendees worrying that their every word will be broadcast to the world. The event does have a high-powered lineup, including speeches by Mike Griffin and Marion Blakey and a dinner address by former VP Al Gore, although hopefully he’ll give something other than his An Inconvenient Truth slide show.) I’ll be spending part of the day at the airport, checking out preparations there, including Armadillo Aerospace’s attempts to win approval from the FAA for their Lunar Lander Challenge flights. Some miscellaneous notes from Las Cruces:
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