X PRIZE goes up in flames for Armadillo

William Atkins
Monday, 29 October 2007 18:22

Science - Space

The last flight of the Armadillo Aerospace MOD (Module 1) vehicle on Sunday, October 28, 2007, ended in failure. The engine caught on fire just after ignition start while on the launch pad with small fragments being ejected from the engine chamber.       

Video clips of the 2007 Wirefly X PRIZE Cup competition appears at the Space.com website: http://www.space.com/xprizecup/video/.

Peter Diamandis, chief executive officer of the X PRIZE Foundation, said of the failed flight, “From the field, we heard a little bit of a boom and there was a hard start on the engine of some type.” [Space.com]

The Armadillo Aerospace team attempted four flights for the easier Level 1 competition. They were forced to take the engine from its larger Pixel rocket in order to attempt the flights of MOD. Pixel was intended to compete in Level 2, the more difficult competition which better simulated the lunar surface, with a rough and unlevel landing site. However, Pixel never got off the ground due to its parts being used for the unsuccessful MOD flights.

John Carmack stated that the team could have used a spare engine to attempt a flight of Pixel but, in the end, decided not to try it.

Additional information about the 2007 Wirefly X PRIZE Cup competition is found at the iTWire article “2007 Wirefly X PRIZE Cup: "Earth's Great Space Exposition"

Approximately 85,000 people attended the weekend events of the X PRIZE Cup competitions. The Cup will be offered through 2010 under the direction of NASA’s Centennial Challenge.

However, corporate sponsorship is likely to change in 2008. Wirefly.com did not contribute to the event, although its name was prominently displayed as part of the official title “Wirefly X PRIZE Cup.” The telecommunications company has financial problems, according to event officials, and will likely not sponsor the contests next year.

The Lunar Lander Challenge, in which the Armadillo Aerospace team competed, is sponsored by Northrop Grumman. Its contract ended in 2007, so its continuing sponsorship is uncertain at this time.

In all, the competition by private organizations is showing the promise of private funds in developing spacecraft, but it is also showing how difficult it is to successfully complete space missions.