Armadillo Aerospace Update Thread

[Robotbeat]

  They're edging up.
   First, 82; now 95 Km altitude.

  But I'm interested in the microgravity time interval.
 I suspect that this rocket obtained close to 200 seconds of microgravity.

  Microgravity is a valuable commodity; just ask scientists and researchers who are willing to shell out bucks to obtain it.

Now that AA is virtually in competition, or soon will be, with UP Aerospace, how much will they charge for payloads to be sent up?

  Suppose AA charges 10 dollars per kilogram per-second of microgravity; to send up a 10 kilogram payload, for 200 seconds of microgravity,  the
estimated scale would result in a customer being required to pay
$20,000 to AA.
   Am I close to the correct estimate?

Not now. They haven't got recoverability and reusability down yet, but they definitely plan to... Small, expendable, liquid sounding rockets are expensive... Hundreds of thousands of dollars. They get paid more for recoverability and it costs them a heck of a lot less if they're reusable, so they are not yet at the point where they are profitable by just taking payloads. (If they were to go for just expendable sounding rockets, solids are probably a better way to go.) That said, Stiga was flown twice (it was rebuilt, many or even most parts by cost were reused).

[baldusi]

Let's not forget Masten.

[vulture4]

I have heard there was a period of collaboration between Armadillo and JSC, which was putting together a small VTVL test vehicle. But then talk of collaboration seemed to fade away. Are they still working together?

[docmordrid]

http://morpheuslander.jsc.nasa.gov/

[Solo]

So, there's a physicist in my department at the University of Wisconsin - Madison who does research using an x-ray telescope lofted by a Black Brant V.  Their earlier flights had 240s of microgravity, with a 26 kg payload.  They had major concerns with the high vibration environment of the solid motors on the Brant.  I think that Armadillo Aerospace would be competitive.

[ceauke]

Hi guys

I know if there's no update it's because there is no update but I'm wondering if I missed something. Seems like armadillo posts less frequent updates these days.

Are they working on something big and will update when appropriate milestones are reached or are they just more shy these days?

[Space Junkie]

Hi guys

I know if there's no update it's because there is no update but I'm wondering if I missed something. Seems like armadillo posts less frequent updates these days.

Are they working on something big and will update when appropriate milestones are reached or are they just more shy these days?

Not much recently. It always amazed me that they released as much information as they did in the past. (If I had a similar company it would resemble Blue Origin in terms of openness.)  There is this though:

https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/215964944347312128

At @SpaceUpHOU comm'l space panel, Armadillo's Neil Milburn says STIG-B flight planned for late July/early August from NM.

[Robotbeat]

Hi guys

I know if there's no update it's because there is no update but I'm wondering if I missed something. Seems like armadillo posts less frequent updates these days.

Are they working on something big and will update when appropriate milestones are reached or are they just more shy these days?

I think I heard a rumor of a July launch of Stig-B. Should go well past 100km.

[Confusador]

Jeff also had a post with some more details that I'd been meaning to reference here.

There's some implication that the long pole in the delay has been getting a license, since they can't use the experimental permits they had been as this is a revenue generating flight.    Maybe someone else can confirm the extent to which that's true, I haven't yet found any other comments.

[QuantumG]

They're doing work for NASA.. thus they are now boring.

[HMXHMX]

They're doing work for NASA.. thus they are now boring.

I understood that they had stopped working with NASA?

[Robotbeat]

They're doing work for NASA.. thus they are now boring.

I understood that they had stopped working with NASA?

They have a NASA payload on Stig-B, according to the article. Anytime you get paid for a launch, you are generally not eligible for an experimental launch license.

I quite disagree with QuantumG's (admittedly tongue in cheek) statement. They would need a launch license for ANY paying customer. And doesn't mean they're boring.

[QuantumG]

I quite disagree with QuantumG's (admittedly tongue in cheek) statement. They would need a launch license for ANY paying customer. And doesn't mean they're boring.

The complaint was about the infrequency of updates. That corresponds exactly with when they started taking NASA money. There was an uptick when @wikkit joined the company, but his enthusiasm isn't sufficient to keep the updates coming. Fundamentally, their current activities are boring to the general public - flying suborbital unmanned vehicles that are only partially reusable are, at least by appearances, no more interesting than any of the other sounding rocket companies. If the dream of flying tourists to space is still alive at Armadillo, and I truly believe it is, they're openly telling the public with their silence that they're a long way from achieving it.

The company that put man in the air back in 2002 is not the same company today, and it's a direct result of their funding source.

[Robotbeat]

Carmack is also pretty busy himself with Id stuff. That's the bigger factor, IMHO. They are more professional now and less amateur. They're not doing it just for fun anymore. If it's because of their funding source, it's because their funding source is no longer just John Carmack.

[QuantumG]

Carmack is also pretty busy himself with Id stuff. That's the bigger factor, IMHO. They are more professional now and less amateur. They're not doing it just for fun anymore. If it's because of their funding source, it's because their funding source is no longer just John Carmack.

So it is because of their funding source. We miss the Armadillo Aerospace that had fun.

[Robotbeat]

Carmack is also pretty busy himself with Id stuff. That's the bigger factor, IMHO. They are more professional now and less amateur. They're not doing it just for fun anymore. If it's because of their funding source, it's because their funding source is no longer just John Carmack.

So it is because of their funding source. We miss the Armadillo Aerospace that had fun.

Yes, they are now a business, not a hobby.

[Lars_J]

What is the current propellant of choice these days? Still LOX/alcohol? Or something else?

I looked at their site, and did not see any explicit mention of what they use besides LOX.

[Robotbeat]

What is the current propellant of choice these days? Still LOX/alcohol? Or something else?

I looked at their site, and did not see any explicit mention of what they use besides LOX.

It still uses LOx and ethyl alcohol (i.e. ethanol). According to the text accompanying this official video on youtube (on the official armadillo youtube account):

[JBF]

What is the current propellant of choice these days? Still LOX/alcohol? Or something else?

I looked at their site, and did not see any explicit mention of what they use besides LOX.

It still uses LOx and ethyl alcohol (i.e. ethanol). According to the text accompanying this official video on youtube (on the official armadillo youtube account):

No that's impressive, keeping a long skinny rocket vertical with only 1 engine.

[Robotbeat]

Funny thing about that is that long skinny rockets actually tend to be a little easier to control in a hover (higher center of mass makes it easier, don't have to worry about uneven tank drainage like in a quad-tank setup). And a single engine is easier to gimbal, control. (Gimballing is a lot easier than differential throttling.)