The first free flight of Masten Space System’s Xombie lunar lander vehicle. The company will take a shot at the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge on Wednesday morning in Mojave, Calif.
Armadillo Aerospace's lunar lander Scorpius in flight. Photo Credit: William Pomerantz/ X PRIZE Foundation
X PRIZE PRESS RELEASE
As part of the X PRIZE Foundation’s Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, Armadillo Aerospace, led by id Software founder John Carmack, successfully flew its lunar Lander rocket vehicle, “Scorpius,” twice in two hours, flying between a pair of landing pads to qualify for the $1 million top prize purse. This milestone event in privately funded space activity once again demonstrates 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 Armadillo’s flights mean it is certain NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program and the X PRIZE Foundation will be giving away at least $1 million before year’s end.
These successful flights underscore last week’s report to President Obama by the Augustine Commission, which called for increased commercial sector participation both in orbital operations and NASA’s efforts to reach the Moon by 2020.
In order to meet the requirements of Level 2 of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, the Scorpius vehicle had to simulate a full lunar lander mission with a flight profile that closely simulates the task of descending from lunar orbit to the lunar surface, refueling, and returning to lunar orbit. To match the performance of such a mission here on Earth, the vehicle was required 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 to repeat the flight by returning to the original launch site. The two flights of Scorpius, which weighs about 1900 pounds when fully loaded with its ethanol and liquid oxygen propellant, took place Sept. 12th at the Caddo Mills Municipal Airport in Texas, where Armadillo Aerospace’s facilities are based.
An couple of updates from Masten Space Systems:
In preparation for our Lunar Lander Challenge flight tomorrow the company just flew its first untethered free flight! Video and details to come soon!
MASTEN MEDIA ALERT
Launch Scheduled For Sept. 16, 2009 at Mojave Air & Space Port, CA
WHAT: On Sept. 16, Masten Space Systems will be the second of at least three teams attempting to win a portion of a $2 million incentive prize purse as part of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge (NGLLC), funded by NASA, and created and presented by the X PRIZE Foundation.
Stung by criticism of ISRO’s opaque operating style and misleading statements about its Chandrayaan-1 mission, Chairman G. Madhavan Nair lashed out at the media in an interview with Forbes India:
Forbes India: Critics say ISRO needs to be more transparent.
Madhavan Nair: You take any other organisation in the country and compare it to ISRO and show me one which is more transparent than us. In fact, I think our problem is we talk too much. But we will not put out half-cooked data. I must also complain about the media. The media wants only sensation; they want only failures.
Uh….I hate to interrupt any tirade. But, I think its time for a reality check…
OSC PRESS RELEASE
Orbital Sciences Corporation today announced that the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) recently ordered the first Minotaur V launch vehicle under the company’s Orbital/Suborbital Program-2 (OSP-2) contract. The Minotaur V rocket will propel NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) probe on a trajectory to enable it to orbit the Moon. The Air Force’s Space Development and Test Wing (SDTW), located at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, administers the OSP-2 contract. The program office is responsible for all Minotaur vehicles for the Launch Test Squadron (LTS) of SDTW.
CSF PRESS RELEASE
An industry survey has revealed that over 5,000 direct jobs, including 1,700 jobs in Florida, would be created over the next five years if the $2.5 billion Commercial Crew Program proposed by the White House Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee (also known as the Augustine Committee) moves forward. A Commercial Crew program would support full utilization of the Space Station, reduce U.S. reliance on Russia to launch American astronauts, and allow NASA to focus its resources on exploration beyond low-Earth-orbit (LEO).
China breaks ground on space launch center
Associated Press
China broke ground on its fourth space center Monday, highlighting the country’s soaring space ambitions six years after it sent its first man into orbit.
The space port on the southern island province of Hainan incorporates a launch site and mission control center for slinging the country’s massive new rockets into space carrying satellites and components for a future space station and deep space exploration.
The Space Review looks at COTS, Ares I and Armadillo Aerospace.
This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston… Monday, Sept. 14 2009: Replay from last week with Dr. Eligar Sadeh regarding the recent National Space Policy Forum in Washington, DC. Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009: Taped interviews, ATK and NASA press conferences, and the countdown and test of the Ares 1 5 segment SRB static test. 3. Friday, Sept. 18, 2009, Taped interviews from AIAA Space 2009. Sunday, Sept. […]
The NSS released a statement on Friday concerning the Augustine Commission report:
The National Space Society (NSS) welcomes the release of the Summary Report of the Review of U.S. Space Flight Plans Committee, better known as the Augustine Commission. NSS thanks the Commission for its hard work and due diligence, and for a thorough job given the time and resources available to its members.
Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft
Crunch time for Russia Mars probe
BBC News
Less than two months before the scheduled launch of Russia’s flagship planetary spacecraft, officials are set to recommend a delay until 2011.