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20,000 Show up for X-Prize Expo

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the that's-why-man-invented-landing-pads dept.

Zacharski writes to tell us that the X-Prize Cup Expo was held Sunday in Las Cruces New Mexico in front of about 20,000 people. John Carmack was there with his team from Armadillo Aerospace. From the article: "Armadillo Aerospace got their rocket-powered, vertical takeoff, vertical landing vehicle off the ground. Blasting off into the sky then hovering for a few seconds, the craft began lowering itself to the ground - but tipped over on touchdown. The wet ground due to overnight rain was the cause, although the craft appeared undamaged in the fall. An internal hose was punctured, however, causing subsequent flights to be scrubbed." The expo also ended with quite a bang when Starchaser's Churchill Mk2 rocket engine blew up.

4 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Flight Videos by everphilski · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's some flight videos taken in preparation for the XPrize cup (not footage from the event, but some final runs taken the week before)

    http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Ho me/News?news_id=310

    -everphilski-

  2. Re:Gerald Bull's Super Gun by lommer · · Score: 3, Informative

    I wholeheartedly agree. Unfortunately, there hasn't been anyone influential enough that has been pushing the concept since Bull's assasination. These days, science moves forward only when people who are passionate about a certain area pour their soul into it. The other thing is that as hard as rocketry is, we've had lots of experience with it and we have almost none with the kind of artillery that Bull wanted to build. Bull was a brilliant guy (he had earned his PhD @ 23 years old), and his guns were quite complex. We're talking multiple charges detonating along the length of several kilometers of the barrel, and he also used rocket sabots that would ignite at high altidude to give the projectile the last little boost.

    For more information on the remarkable story of Bull and his supergun, check wikipedia:

    Gerald Bull: Biography

    Project HARP: Bull's earlier work for the US gov't.

    Project Babylon: Bull's work for saddam hussein that eventually got him killed by the Mossad

  3. I was there by 7Ghent · · Score: 5, Informative

    Drove down from Albuquerque with several friends. We got some decent pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/killbox/

  4. Re:Where's Boeing? by bani · · Score: 3, Informative

    SpaceShipOne didn't even come close to what Shepard did.

    SpaceShipOne went straight up and down, 367k feet. It peaked at mach 3 and reentry topped at around 5g's. Maximum reentry temperature was around 200F.

    Shepard's flight was 612k feet, and 302 miles downrange. It peaked at mach 7.7, and on reentry he experienced nearly 12g's. Maximum reentry temperature was around 2000F.