Author Topic: Armadillo Aerospace - New Video Update (Read 50946 times)

savuporo · « **Reply #60 on:** 08/27/2007 07:58 am »

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halkey - 24/8/2007 2:37 PM
I never know whether to laugh or cry. I just always fear that these types of people with grossly misinformed opinions will be listened to somewhere up on the food chain and that their ignorance will kill future advancement. Yes, I'm paranoid.

Easy enough to fix, takes a few minutes of your personal time: post an informative or insightful reply. If you are reading slashdot comments in the first place, you should have that time available.
Include a link to a more informative web page, like Hobbyspace.

meiza · « **Reply #61 on:** 08/27/2007 12:49 pm »

Armadillo has since done two 180 second hover flights. That doesn't seem to make news. Maybe it will be mentioned shortly, or maybe the media wants to leave people dwelling in the incorrect impression that "Carmack crashed, that's it".

Solo · « **Reply #62 on:** 08/27/2007 01:40 pm »

@meiza: probably just because two sentences out of an email doesn't make much of an article!

JesseD · « **Reply #63 on:** 08/28/2007 03:21 pm »

My guess is that they're trying to build the suspense. Reading the last little bitof the New Scientist article, they were eager to speculate that this will let someone else jump back into the race, talking about losing horse races, etc., etc., etc. Makes for a good tag line: "After Race Leader's Spacecraft Crashes, $2 Million in Prize Money is In Reach for Competitors!"

edit: BTW, just to be clear, that isn't a real headline; I made it up. :laugh: :bleh:

bad_astra · « **Reply #64 on:** 08/28/2007 05:58 pm »

Saw this on Masten Space System's 8-14 blog:
"At the risk of sounding like another NewSpace company making claims about progress based on apparently failed tests"

That was more than a little mean spirited, and seemed to be barbed right at Armadillo.

savuporo · « **Reply #65 on:** 08/28/2007 06:13 pm »

no, they were actually referring to SpaceX there, note that this item was posted way before Armadillo crashed

meiza · « **Reply #66 on:** 08/28/2007 07:48 pm »

Yeah exactly, Armadillo does not need to claim success with failed tests, since they have done such a huge amount of successful tests.

bad_astra · « **Reply #67 on:** 08/29/2007 07:01 am »

Oh, that does make sense. Sorry

Solo · « **Reply #68 on:** 08/29/2007 11:06 am »

If anything, John's joke that perhaps Masten would "see the error of their ways" with respect to multiple vectored engines vs single gimbaled sounded just a shade below the the belt, but I know he wasn't meaing it that way.

jongoff · « **Reply #69 on:** 08/29/2007 03:47 pm »

Solo,

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If anything, John's joke that perhaps Masten would "see the error of their ways" with respect to multiple vectored engines vs single gimbaled sounded just a shade below the the belt, but I know he wasn't meaning it that way.

One thing to keep in mind is that in spite of being close competitors, the Armadillo guys are some of our closest friends in the industry as well. We sometimes take good-natured jabs at each other, like John's comment at X-Prize Cup last year when he said "We're going to make you guys work really hard for second place." But we understood the way he meant it to be taken.

~Jon

savuporo · « **Reply #70 on:** 08/29/2007 10:02 pm »

LLC is now down to 7 competitors, as MicroSpace didnt show up (whodathunk!?) and "mystery team" pulled out.
Anyone wanna bet that actually there will be just one team flying this year, again ?

hop · « **Reply #71 on:** 08/30/2007 02:05 am »

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savuporo - 29/8/2007 3:02 PM

LLC is now down to 7 competitors, as MicroSpace didnt show up (whodathunk!?) and "mystery team" pulled out.
Anyone wanna bet that actually there will be just one team flying this year, again ?

Masten has a good chance of flying IMO. From a quick google, it seems to me none of the others have actually come anywhere close to flying a controlled VVTL rocket. Perhaps they are just playing their cards closer to their chests than Armadillo and Masten, but I have my doubts.

One rumor was that the mystery team is Blue Origin. If that was true, they actually have flown an impressive vehicle and so could have offered serious competition. Moot point now, since whoever it was is out.

gladiator1332 · « **Reply #72 on:** 08/30/2007 03:33 am »

I haven't followed Armadillo too closely, but watching the video in the first post of this thread, they really have made a lot of progress since the X-Prize.
The modular concept is pretty amazing looking, and really a different approach to sending payloads to orbit.

One question, regarding the modular concept:
http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/Images/RLV/Armadillo/orbitalConfig.jpg

Will this structure eventually be covered by some sort of shroud? Where will the payload sit? And will there be a payload fairing?

MKremer · « **Reply #73 on:** 08/30/2007 04:33 am »

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hop - 29/8/2007 9:05 PM

One rumor was that the mystery team is Blue Origin. If that was true, they actually have flown an impressive vehicle and so could have offered serious competition. Moot point now, since whoever it was is out.

That was my immediate thought, too.
Just speculation, but it could be that either a) they aren't completely confident with successful translation and landing at a different location, or (more likely), b) they still aren't able to refuel and prep the vehicle for a return flight within the rules limit.

jongoff · « **Reply #74 on:** 08/30/2007 03:10 pm »

hop,

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Masten has a good chance of flying IMO. From a quick google, it seems to me none of the others have actually come anywhere close to flying a controlled VVTL rocket. Perhaps they are just playing their cards closer to their chests than Armadillo and Masten, but I have my doubts.

Barring a major land mine, we should be there this year. There are a few of the others that I would give decent odds of having something flying this year at the cup. Though I would really be surprised if there were more than three competitors flying there.

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One rumor was that the mystery team is Blue Origin. If that was true, they actually have flown an impressive vehicle and so could have offered serious competition. Moot point now, since whoever it was is out.

The mystery 9th team wasn't BO. The guy who ran the company is a good friend of mine. I can't say who, but it wasn't Blue Origin. Blue really doesn't need the money.

~Jon

dmc6960 · « **Reply #75 on:** 08/30/2007 06:58 pm »

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gladiator1332 - 29/8/2007 10:33 PM

One question, regarding the modular concept:
http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/Images/RLV/Armadillo/orbitalConfig.jpg

Will this structure eventually be covered by some sort of shroud? Where will the payload sit? And will there be a payload fairing?

John has said that the first stage would just act as an elevator, throttle and stay subsonic through the atmosphere to keep a low dynamic pressure, then the top two stages would go fast. That concept is, just a concept, and the 3rd stage module could just barely reach orbit on its own, it wouldn't be carrying much of if any payload other than itself.

tnphysics · « **Reply #76 on:** 08/30/2007 10:53 pm »

Why don't they put a fairing on the launch vehicle and have all stages go fast? It would increase the payload by at least a factor of 2!

meiza · « **Reply #77 on:** 08/30/2007 11:09 pm »

It probably wouldn't help much with the shape being what it is.

hop · « **Reply #78 on:** 08/30/2007 11:18 pm »

per carmacks post here: http://spacefellowship.com/Forum/about396-0-asc-1155.html

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The nosecone is just for single module high speed flights. We aren't sure yet if we will put a fairing on the multi-module systems, it will depend on the total drag and mass tradeoff.

Based on past Armadillo performance, I would expect things to evolve significantly as they develop and fly the actual hardware. My personal bet is they will find the modular approach is ultimately more complex and costly than building a couple of different stages, but only time will tell

hop · « **Reply #79 on:** 09/04/2007 08:53 pm »

FWIW John has posted a new update http://armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home/News?news_id=349 with video of the recent crash and other stuff.