Armadillo Powers Toward $1 Million Prize

By Nancy Atkinson - September 14, 2009 at 6:58 AM UTC | Space Exploration

A rocket powered vehicle successfully completed the first step toward qualifying to win a $1 million prize for NASA's Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Armadillo Aerospace's "Scorpius" lander set world records for vertical landings and takeoff flights by flying up 50 meters (164 feet) into the air, maneuvering over to land on a simulated rocky lunar surface 50 meters (164 feet) away, and then rising and flying back to land where it started. The flight included a requirement of at least 180 seconds of flying time. Watch the video from the second qualifying flight here. Armadillo is the first team of three teams looking to nab the prize this year.

"It's a great day here, it was a beautiful flight," said Peter Diamandis, CEO of the XPrize Foundation. "The vehicle from team Armadillo has made its second successful flight . Over the next few months if another team is able to make this level two flight as well, it will be the difference between the landing position and how far off the center of the pad that determines the winner."

Scorpius, weighs about 1900 pounds fully fueled. The vehicle made its flight at the Caddo Mills Airport in Texas, where Armadillo Aerospace's facilities are based.

NASA will award the $1 million prize for Level 2 this year after all the teams entered in the Challenge have a chance to compete. Other teams are Masten Space Systems and Unreasonable Rocket, who hope to make attempts soon, and the deadline for making the flight is October 31, 2009.

Armadillo won Level 1 of last year in October, garnering the $350,000 prize for a flight of 90 seconds.

Sources:

Google Lunar XPrize Launchpad

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Rocket Dungeon

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com