The rocket company Armadillo Aerospace has just completed a 3-minute hover test of its vehicle Pixel, positioning itself to win the most challenging level of the $2 million Lunar Lander Centennial Challenge in October 2007. But as the only entrant in the 2006 competition, this team knows anything can happen on 鈥榞ame day鈥�.
As the US prepares to return humans to the Moon, ambitious young companies are trying to build their own versions of a lunar lander that could land and take off vertically from the Moon.
The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, a NASA-backed contest, aims to spur the development of the required technologies. The competition has two levels. Level 1 requires two 90-second flights, and Level 2 requires two flights of 180 seconds each.
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Armadillo Aerospace, co-founded by Doom video game creator John Carmack, made three attempts to win the shorter, Level 1 contest in 2006, but ultimately did not walk away with the top prize, worth $350,000 prize.
But on Saturday, the company flew its Pixel lander for 192 seconds at the Grayson County Airport in Denison, Texas, US. This is its longest flight so far 鈥� and crucially, makes it a serious contender for the lander contest鈥檚 $1.5 million Level 2 prize. Watch a (.mpg), where heated concrete appears to pop off the launch pad at times.
Rough terrain
Pixel quickly made another flight that lasted more than 90 seconds.
Armadillo has attempted a 180-second test flight four or five times since the lander challenge in 2006. But they have always been hampered by engine malfunctions, guidance issues or other glitches.
Still, the 192-second flight does not necessarily mean Armadillo will win the 2007 competition, which is to be held at the Wirefly X Prize Cup in Las Cruces, New Mexico, US, from 26 through 28 October.
That is because both levels of the contest require rockets to launch and then hover for the required time at an altitude of 50 metres while moving to a second launch pad 100 metres away. Then they must land vertically like a lunar lander, refuel and repeat the process back to the first pad.
For the contest鈥檚 Level 2, the rocket must also land on simulated lunar terrain, which includes craters and boulders.
Tethered test
During Saturday鈥檚 192-second test flight, Pixel was roughly 3 to 4 metres off the ground 鈥� it would have to fly about 15 times higher for the contest. And on Saturday, tethers connected the vehicle to a crane so it would be supported before dropping to the ground.
That means the recent flight was not a good test of its landing gear, which played a key role in the failed 2006 challenge attempts. At that time, this gear was damaged during a rough landing.
Since then, the company has redesigned the landing gear. It is now made of foam wrapped in leather, which gives Pixel some added cushioning on impact.
They have also redesigned the engine several times to keep the engine chamber from overheating during the longer flights.
Team member Phil Eaton says he thinks they can make both 180-second flights to win the Level 2 challenge this year, not to mention the Level 1 prize.
鈥業n the bag鈥�
鈥淲e made it a very specific goal to make sure that we had the Level 1 prize in the bag before we continued to do any additional work on the Level 2 prize,鈥� Eaton told New 杏吧原创.
In the spirit of the competition, he says they have also been offering advice to their competitors. 鈥淲e want them to be as successful as possible while still allowing us to win,鈥� Eaton says.
The contest is one of NASA鈥檚 Centennial Challenges, which are designed to spur private innovation in spaceflight. Although some of the contests have been going since 2005, NASA had never given out any prize money until the Astronaut Glove Challenge earlier in May, when Peter Homer won $200,000 for his simple glove design (see New spacesuit glove beats NASA鈥檚, hands down).
