Armadillo Scorpius has power to escape Moon

Gareth Morgan
New Scientist/Spaceflight

The million-dollar Lunar Lander Challenge prize will be claimed this year. Already one team's craft has completed an Earth-based test trip which proves it has the oomph to achieve lunar orbit from the moon's surface. Two more teams will attempt to do the same before the end of October.

The Scorpius, built by Armadillo Aerospace of Rockwall, Texas, took off on 13 September from a launch pad at nearby Caddo Mills. Fuelled by a blend of liquid oxygen and alcohol, it rose 50 metres into the air and headed to a mock lunar landing pad 50 metres away. After refuelling and a minor tweak to the controlling software, it flew back.

The trips simulated landing and blasting-off from the moon's surface and into lunar orbit – putting it in line to claim the $1 million prize for fulfilling level 2 of the Northrop Grumman 2009 Lunar Lander Challenge.

Before the end of October, Masten Space Systems (MSS) and Unreasonable Rocket, both based in California, aim to launch competitors. MSS will attempt to complete the level 2 challenge with its XA-0.1E rocket. Unreasonable Rocket is a much smaller team, consisting of father and son Paul T. Breed and Paul A. Breed, whose 1.5-metre-high vehicle is named Blue Ball.

If more than one team is successful, the prize will be settled by assessing the mean landing accuracy of the outward and return flights.

Armadillo Aerospace takes lead in Lunar Lander Challenge

At science.slashdot.org, kdawson quotes Dagondanum, who writes, "Armadillo Aerospace has officially won the 2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Level 2, on a rainy day at Caddo Mills, Texas. Reports came in from various locations during the day and spectators posted videos and images using social networking tools such as Twitter. The Level 2 prize requires the rocket to fly for 180 seconds before landing precisely on a simulated lunar surface constructed with craters and boulders. The minimum flight times are calculated so that the Level 2 mission closely simulates the power needed to perform a real descent from lunar orbit down to the surface of the Moon. First place is a prize of $1 million while second is $500,000."

Mark Whittington of the Houston Space News Examiner writes:

"Armadillo Aerospace, with its Scorpius rocket, has taken the lead to win Level 2 of the Lunar Lander Centennial Challenge and one million dollars of NASA’s money. Last year, Armadillo won Level 1 by launching a rocket to more than a 160 feet in the air, hovering for a minute and a half, landing on a nearby launch pad, then taking off again and repeating the feat to land again on the original launch pad. Armadillo won $350,000 for that feat.

"This year, the competition was more challenging. This time the Armadillo team was obliged to launch their rocket, hover for at least three minutes, land on a pad strewn with simulated lunar boulders, refuel, then fly again to the original launch pad. This Armadillo was able to do during a break in the weather at the Texas site where the Lunar Lander competition, sponsored by Northrup Grumman and the X-Prize foundation, was held this year. The Scorpius managed to land within a meter of the intended targets each time."

Read the Examiner piece, HERE.