The X Prize Foundation posted a statement about the 2009 Lunar Lander CHallenge Monday that announces an end to the “gather and show” approach to the competitions. For 2009 (and presumably beyond), the X Prize Judges will travel to the
ESA’s Re-entry Experimental Vehicle
I came across this ESA animation and thought it might be interesting. After being launched into space, the IXV – or Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle – will return to earth as if from a low-Earth orbit mission, testing brand-new European atmospheric
Happy Team
The Armadillo Aerospace Team stands with their Big Check (non-negotiable) and their vehicle after winning the Level 1 Lunar Lander Challenge at Las Cruses, NM October 24th, 2008. The details of the victory and the Level 2 flight attempt the
TrueZer0 First Attempt Fails
Personal Spaceflight blog is reporting that TrueZer0 failed on their first attempt at the LLC Level 1 Competition. Update 12:10 pm MDT: The vehicle took off and flew upwards for several seconds, then lost power and crashed. There was a
Suborbital Competition
Armadillo, Rocket Racing League and Spaceport America announced October 23rd that they will partner to begin commercial suborbital flights in 2010, at a customer price of $100,000 per seat. In a press release, Armadillo Aerospace announced they will develop the
Armadillo Crash at LLC Level 2
John Carmack and the Armadillo Aerospace team failed in their first attempt to win the Lunar Lander Challenge Level 2 Competition. According to several blogs from the site, the QUAD vehicle had an engine abort at ignition and tipped over,
Armadillo Wins LLC Level 1
After two years of near-misses, Armadillo Aerospace won a $350,000 prize Friday in an rocket contest created by NASA to encourage the development of new lunar lander prototypes. The rules for the challenge’s Level 1 contest call for teams to
Cold Rush – Not So Fast
Ron Cowen has an article in Science News about water at the Lunar South Pole. “The Japanese spacecraft Kaguya finds no visible evidence that a lunar south pole crater holds ice” the article starts out. It seems the Japanese probe
General Meeting #332
Attending: Michael W, Julie P, Dan S, Stellan L, Gerald N. Call to order: 8:03 pm at the home of G. Nordley.
General meeting #331
Attending: D. Weinshenker, S. Longstrom, J. Porter, D. Solvin, M. Wallis, G. Nordley Call to order: 8:25 pm at the home of G. Nordley.