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1 Amateur Rocket Crashes, Another Explodes

Posted by timothy on from the eggs-striving-to-be-omelets dept.

prostoalex writes "A 23-foot-long space rocket carrying 3 dummies exploded in the Pacific Northwest after reaching about 200 feet. The team was competing for Ansari X Prize, offering $10 million to the team that successfully completes a low-budget private space rocket capable of carrying men into space. Google News offers more perspectives into the event, the team is saying the rocket, whose parachute malfunctioned, would have to be rebuilt." And AmiNTT writes "Everygeek's favorite rocketeers over at Armadillo Aerospace have suffered a fairly serious setback over the weekend - the crash of their 48-inch vehicle link in a test hop at their 100 acre test field. Of course there is video and pictures - 2 3... This setback should keep them from flying for about five weeks, but will give them a chance to make some design changes. I'm sure they will be back better than ever. (Armadillo have shown up on Slashdot many times in the past.)"

3 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. "The Right Stuff", part 2? by oostevo · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Did anybody else look at that video and immediately remember the montage sequence from The Right Stuff with archival footage of NASA's rockets blowing up?

    That didn't set them back, and somehow I don't think this will set back these private experimenters either.

    --
    In soviet russia, You ask not what country do for you, but what you do for country!
    Oh wait...
    1. Re:"The Right Stuff", part 2? by feargal · · Score: 4, Interesting

      To be exact, they haven't done any test flights yet. They haven't revealed when they will do them, but have stated that they do have a number of drop tests scheduled.

      I do share your fear though, in Wild Fire's case the project leader, Brian Feeney, will be the pilot so I remain optimistic that adequate testing will be done. If not, at least he's not playing with other people's lives.

      --
      "A goldfish was his muse, eternally amused"
  2. This is sloppy work by Ge10 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Rocket science is not easy, but almost all of Armadillo's mishaps were due to easily forseeable problems, such as:

    *battery connectors coming off
    *no protection against inductive kickback(essential around any combination of electromechanical and electronic devices)
    *not restricting allowable user inputs (ie joystick)
    *underrated power transistors for drive unit (this is very basic stuff)
    *finally, not setting minimum fuel level for takeoff

    When you are dealing with a field as complex as this, you can't afford to make such stupid mistakes.