Armadillo Aerospace's Pixel prototype for a lunar lander completed the first leg of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge today, with $350,000 at stake. But one of Pixel's legs was damaged during the hard landing, and a small fire burned circuitry on the craft. Those mishaps ruled out the required return trip, which means Armadillo's first bid to win the prize was a noble failure.
"Good luck next time," NASA spokesman Phil West told Armadillo team leader John Carmack.
Today's contest was part of a $2 million competition being conducted at the Las Cruces International Airport during the Wirefly X Prize Cup rocket fest, with NASA providing the prize money. Armadillo's task was to have the remote-controlled Pixel blast off, rise to an altitude of 50 meters (164 feet), hang in the air for 90 seconds while moving over 100 meters (328 feet) and come down on a landing pad.
Pixel did all that - but the problem was that the craft had to retrace its steps back to the landing point. The damage done during Pixel's landing on the target pad made the second half of the trip impossible, Carmack said.
Even though Carmack didn't succeed at first, he plans to fly, fly again. For the full details, check out today's X Prize Cup wrap-up and my report on the cup's circus atmosphere..