Armadillo fails to win Lunar Lander Challenge
Posted: Tue, Oct 30, 2007, 7:59 AM ET (1159 GMT)
Armadillo Aerospace failed to win either level of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge at the X Prize Cup in New Mexico on Sunday after their vehicle experienced engine problems. Armadillo's Mod vehicle successfully flew the first leg of the level 1 challenge on Sunday morning, but suffered an engine hard start on the beginning of its return trip and did a powered abort back to the pad. On Sunday afternoon the vehicle suffered a more powerful hard start at the beginning of its first leg that destroyed the engine and caused a fire that burned for about a minute, although not significantly damaging the rest of the vehicle. The full $2 million prize purse, provided by NASA's Centennial Challenges program, will be available for next year's competition.
Armadillo Aerospace failed to win either level of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge at the X Prize Cup in New Mexico on Sunday after their vehicle experienced engine problems. Armadillo's Mod vehicle successfully flew the first leg of the level 1 challenge on Sunday morning, but suffered an engine hard start on the beginning of its return trip and did a powered abort back to the pad. On Sunday afternoon the vehicle suffered a more powerful hard start at the beginning of its first leg that destroyed the engine and caused a fire that burned for about a minute, although not significantly damaging the rest of the vehicle. The full $2 million prize purse, provided by NASA's Centennial Challenges program, will be available for next year's competition.
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