They Qualify For $1 Million NASA Prize, Discusses Next
Steps
Armadillo Aerospace, led by id Software founder John Carmack,
successfully flew its Scorpius vehicle twice in two hours between a
pair of landing pads to qualify for the $1 million top prize in
NASA’s Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. The milestone
event paves the way for higher-altitude flights by the Armadillo
Aerospace team, and demonstrated the value of prizes to stimulate
innovation. Other entrants in the competition will have the
opportunity over the next several weeks to accomplish the same
feat, but the successful flights mean it is certain NASA will be
giving away a $1 million check before year’s end.
In order to meet the requirements of Level 2 of the Lunar Lander
Challenge, the Scorpius vehicle had to ascend to a height of 50
meters, translate horizontally to a landing pad 50 meters away,
land safely on a rocky lunar-replica surface after at least 180
seconds of flight time, and then repeat the flight. The flights of
Scorpius, which weighs about 1900 pounds fully fueled, took place
September 12th at the Caddo Mills Airport in Texas, where Armadillo
Aerospace’s facilities are based.
John Carmack, head of Armadillo Aerospace, stated, “Since
the Lunar Lander Challenge is quite demanding in terms of
performance, with a few tweaks our Scorpius vehicle actually has
the capability to travel all the way to space. We’ll be
moving quickly to do higher-altitude tests, and we can go up to
about 6000 ft. here at our home base in Texas before we’ll
have to head to New Mexico where we can really push the envelope.
We already have scientific payloads from universities lined up to
fly as well, so this will be an exciting next few months for
commercial spaceflight.”
Peter Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation,
which manages the prize on behalf of NASA’s Centennial
Challenges program, said, “Carmack and the entire Armadillo
team made it look easy… an overnight success after 4 years
of hard work. Congratulations on two perfect flights. Now
we’ll need to see if any other teams attempt the Level-2,
Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. If no one does, then
Armadillo will win $1 million in purse cash. I’m hopeful that
this success will allow policymakers to see the power and success
of NASA’s Centennial Challenges program.”
Brett Alexander, President of the Commercial Spaceflight
Federation, added, “Congratulations to Armadillo Aerospace,
NASA, and the X PRIZE Foundation for their excellent teamwork in
making this week’s Lunar Lander Challenge milestone possible.
This competition shows exactly how much NASA can benefit from close
engagement with the commercial spaceflight sector.”
Last weekend’s event builds on the earlier success of the
Armadillo Aerospace team in 2008, when they claimed the $350,000
first place prize for Level 1 of the Lunar Lander Challenge (which
differs from Level 2 in requiring 90 seconds of flight time rather
than 180 seconds).
Two additional competitors for the prize, Masten Space Systems
and Unreasonable Rocket are scheduled to make prize attempts before
the closing of this year’s competition window on October
31st. These teams are scheduled to compete for both the Level 1 and
Level 2 phases of the competition. Each level includes both first
and second place prizes, with the second place prize for Level 1
worth $150,000, and the two prizes for Level 2 worth $1 million and
$500,000.