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Armadillo Aerospace was an
aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...
startup company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...
based in
Mesquite, Texas Mesquite is a suburban city located east of the city of Dallas, Texas, in the United States. Most of the city is located in Dallas County, though a small portion extends into Kaufman County. As of 2019 census estimates, the population was 140 ...
. Its initial goal was to build a crewed
suborbital A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital r ...
spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...
capable of
space tourism Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. During the period from 2001 to 2009, seven space tourists made eight s ...
, and it had also stated long-term ambitions of
orbital spaceflight An orbital spaceflight (or orbital flight) is a spaceflight in which a spacecraft is placed on a trajectory where it could remain in space for at least one orbit. To do this around the Earth, it must be on a free trajectory which has an altit ...
. The company was founded by
John Carmack John D. Carmack II (born August 20, 1970) is an American computer programmer and video game developer. He co-founded the video game company id Software and was the lead programmer of its 1990s games ''Commander Keen'', ''Wolfenstein 3D'', ''Doo ...
,Armadillo Aerospace FAQ
former co-founder and chief technical officer of
id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and ar ...
. On October 24, 2008, Armadillo won $350,000 by succeeding in the Level 1 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. On September 12, 2009, Armadillo won $500,000 by succeeding in Level 2 of the same challenge.Lunar lander qualifies for prize
/ref> In 2010, they signed an exclusive deal with
Space Adventures Space Adventures, Inc. is an American space tourism company founded in 1998 by Eric C. Anderson. Its offerings include zero-gravity atmospheric flights, orbital spaceflights (with the option to participate in a spacewalk), and other spacefl ...
. Armadillo Aerospace was to provide a sub-orbital rocket to fly tourists into space, while Space Adventures would sell tickets for the experience.Perhaps You'll Visit Space In Your Lifetime, After All
Gizmodo, 2010-05-12, accessed May 15, 2010.
In August 2013, Carmack announced that Armadillo Aerospace had been put in "hibernation mode", following setbacks including the crash of the STIG-B rocket in January 2013. In May 2014, several former employees of Armadillo Aerospace formed a new company,
Exos Aerospace Exos Aerospace Systems & Technologies is an aerospace manufacturer and developer of reusable launch systems intended to support uncrewed orbital spaceflight launches, and is based in Caddo Mills, Texas. Foundation Exos Aerospace is based on both ...
, which was created to carry their former company's research into reusable commercial spacecraft. The new company set up their operations in one of Armadillo's former facilities at the Caddo Mills Municipal Airport, in
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
.Armadillo Aerospace Vets Start New Space Company 2014-05-19 - Space News reports new company formed by former Armadillo employees.
/ref> Exos completed acquisition of Armadillo assets in early 2015, and intended to begin launches of the Suborbital Active Rocket with Guidance (SARGE) in 2016 from
Spaceport America Spaceport America, formerly the Southwest Regional Spaceport, is an FAA-licensed spaceport located on of State Trust Land in the Jornada del Muerto desert basin north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and southeast of Truth or Consequences. With V ...
in
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
. SARGE will be an enhanced Armadillo STIG-B. The first flight of SARGE took place in 2018 from Spaceport America. In September 2017, John Carmack retweeted a post about
SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...
rocket bloopers, along with his post "I showed all of our crashes at the beginning of Armadillo Aerospace, but everyone thought it was a terrible idea and talked me out of it." In the comment section, one person asked if there's chance of comeback for Armadillo Aerospace. He subsequently replied that there is the chance that he might "want to try at some point" with his own scheme, giving a sign that Armadillo Aerospace could someday return from hibernation mode.


Research and development principles

The company placed a strong emphasis on a rapid build and test cycle. Armadillo Aerospace designed and built more than 12 vehicles which used about 50 engine designs for over 100 rocket flights. Each design had several features in common. One was the use of modern computer technologies and electronics to simplify rocket control and reduce development costs. Another was the use of liquid propellants and
VTVL Vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) is a form of takeoff and landing for rockets. Multiple VTVL craft have flown. The most widely known and commercially successful VTVL rocket is SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage. VTVL technologies were deve ...
to facilitate short launch-to-launch times.


Prize competitions


X-Prize competition

The company was a competitor for the Ansari X-Prize. Armadillo's X-Prize vehicle was unorthodox among modern rockets in that instead of using stabilization fins, which complicate the design and increase drag, Armadillo used an aerodynamically unstable design, where the computer controlled jet vanes based on feedback from
fibre optic gyroscope A fibre-optic gyroscope (FOG) senses changes in orientation using the Sagnac effect, thus performing the function of a mechanical gyroscope. However its principle of operation is instead based on the interference of light which has passed throu ...
s. Armadillo stated a preference for simplicity and reliability over performance, which was evident in its choice of
hydrogen peroxide Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscous than water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usually as a dilute solution (3%†...
(50% concentration in water) and
methanol Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical and the simplest aliphatic alcohol, with the formula C H3 O H (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often abbreviated as MeOH). It is a ...
as a mixed
monopropellant Monopropellants are propellants consisting of chemicals that release energy through exothermic chemical decomposition. The molecular bond energy of the monopropellant is released usually through use of a catalyst. This can be contrasted with biprop ...
for the vehicle. A monopropellant-based engine requires only a single tank, as well as greatly simplified plumbing and other hardware.


Wirefly X-Prize Cup 2006

Armadillo Aerospace competed in the 2006 X PRIZE Cup. Armadillo Aerospace was the only competitor in the
Lunar Lander Challenge The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge (NG-LLC) was a competition funded by NASA's Centennial Challenges program. The competition offered a series of prizes for teams that launch a vertical takeoff/vertical landing (VTVL) rocket that achiev ...
. The company took two similar vehicles, Pixel and Texel, to the event. The vehicles narrowly failed to win the Level 1 prize, after making three dramatic attempts totalling over 5 minutes in the air, finally crashing out on the final attempt. Persistent landing problems were the main cause of failure, with the undercarriage breaking several times, and landing slightly off the pad on one occasion due to guidance difficulties. These flights were a highlight of the Wirefly X-prize cup.


Quad vehicle

The quad vehicle design is pressure-fed in blow down mode from an initial pressure of 320 psi for level 1 (400 psi level 2). The roll thrusters are cross-fed by gas drawn from ullage space of the opposite tank. The vehicle is able to transfer propellant through connecting pipes between opposite tanks by controlling ullage pressures with the thrusters; this helps it balance, minimizing gas use. The main engine has two-axis thrust vectoring. The vehicle is fully computer controlled; with guidance from GPS and fiber optic gyroscopes.


Wirefly X-Prize Cup 2007

Armadillo Aerospace competed in the 2007 Lunar Lander Challenge event in the Wirefly X-Prize Cup 2007.


Testing

During testing one of the two Quad vehicles (named Texel) crashed on a tethered flight after a guidance problem caused the vehicle to rapidly gain altitude until 3 separate flight termination procedures were activated at approximately 20–30 feet. The vehicle fell, and the impact broke open one of the alcohol tanks and a large fireball engulfed the vehicle. The vehicle was irreparably damaged, and only its sister Pixel could compete in the upcoming event. The plan was to have the first module (of the next generation modular design) compete at level 1, and have Pixel compete at level 2 challenge.


Competition

In the level 1 events, Armadillo's craft MOD (actually, module #1) logged several attempts, including several successful first leg flights, but was unable to complete the return trip during any attempt. On its first attempt, a clogged igniter orifice prevented ignition. On the second attempt, the first leg flight was perfect; increased guidance and control capabilities allowed the module to, in Carmack's words, 'burn the X-mark off the target pad'. The return leg was delayed slightly, because the igniter had clogged again. When the second leg was attempted, a 'hard start' cracked the graphite combustion chamber. As the vehicle was still flying, Carmack flew the crippled vehicle through the course as quickly as possible and hovered 2–3 meters above the landing pad. With only a few seconds remaining in the required flight time, the damaged combustion chamber cracked again, which caused the vehicle to tilt enough to trigger a computer abort. The vehicle performed an auto-land, but the tilt caused the module to tip over on landing after only 82 seconds in the air. The second attempt began with another perfect first leg, but the return was marred by another hard start. Seeing that the engine was badly damaged (although flying), the team commanded an abort. The module landed back on the pad after only a few seconds. On the final attempt, MOD suffered a violent "hard start", resulting in engine explosion. The violence of the explosion embedded a piece of the graphite chamber in the ground 64 meters from the launch pad, and ended their attempts in 2007 for the prize.


Lunar Lander Challenge 2008

The 2008 Lunar Lander Challenge took place October 24–25 at the Las Cruces International Airport in New Mexico. Armadillo Aerospace competed for the third year but for the first time had competition, from the TrueZer0 team. Both received waivers from the FAA to fly experimental rockets. TrueZero attempted level 1, achieved hover, then lost roll control and was aborted and crashed. Armadillo had an unsuccessful first attempt at level 1, and landed early due to inadequate thrust. On their second attempt they completed the first leg, but the second leg was cut short by the FAA closing the flight window. The second leg was held in the afternoon, and they were able to take the Level 1 top prize of $350,000. Armadillo's attempt at the level 2 prize on October 25 was aborted due to their vehicle toppling over after the engine casing burned through due to a fuel-line problem.


Lunar Lander Challenge 2009

Armadillo attempted the Level 2 prize on September 12, 2009. Armadillo successfully flew both legs with their Mod vehicle, each flight lasting over 180 seconds, landing safely. However their landing accuracy was not sufficient to win the first prize, instead they won the second prize while
Masten Space Systems Masten Space Systems was an aerospace manufacturer startup company in Mojave, California (formerly in Santa Clara, California) that was developing a line of vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) rockets, initially for uncrewed research sub- ...
' Xoie lander won the Level 2 first prize.


Rocket Racing League

In 2008, the
Rocket Racing League The Rocket Racing League was a racing league that planned to use rocket-powered aircraft to race a closed-circuit air racetrack. Founded in 2005, the league made its first public flights in 2010 and was working to begin regular racing seasons. ...
announced that Armadillo Aerospace engines would be used in a second generation of X-Racer aircraft.Rocket Racing
, August 2008
, the Rocket Racing League was utilizing a highly modified
Velocity XL The Velocity XL (XL: Extra Large) is an American amateur-built aircraft, produced by Velocity, Inc. It is an enlarged version of their Velocity SE canard pusher design.Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2011 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, V ...
FG airframe and an Armadillo Aerospace 2,500 pound thrust
liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applica ...
(LOX) and
ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl ...
rocket engine A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accordanc ...
in both the Mark-II X-Racer and Mark-III X-Racer demonstration vehicles.Rocket Racing League Announces Milestone Development in X-Racer
, press release, 2010-03-10, accessed May 3, 2010.
The Rocket Racing league never got out of its early development mode, and no racing season was ever held.


Vehicles


Super Mod

The ''Super Mod'' reusable launch vehicle is a vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL) uncrewed rocket which was developed by Armadillo in 2010–2011. It was submitted to NASA as a potential
suborbital A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital r ...
vehicle for use as a suborbital reusable launch vehicle (sRLV) under NASA's Flight Opportunities Program. It added aerodynamic fairings, partially extendable landing legs with lower aerodynamic drag, and systems improvements to the basic Mod vehicle structure and systems. File:Mod-Rocket-Hovering.jpg, Lunar Lander Cup era Mod rocket hovering in free flight File:Mod-Rocket-Nosecone-Hovering.jpg, The Mod rocket with an early nose cone, hovering in free flight File:SuperMod-Rocket-Shop.JPG, The SuperMod rocket during final assembly


Stig

In late 2010, Armadillo started development of a new, longer rocket design created for lower-drag, higher-speed high-altitude flights, which they named Stig in homage of the ''
Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
'' driver
The Stig The Stig is a character from the British motoring television show ''Top Gear''. Created by former ''Top Gear'' presenter Jeremy Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman, the character is a play on the anonymity of racing drivers' full-face helmets, wit ...
. This rocket had similar systems, motors, and component weights as the Super Mod vehicles, but was aerodynamically optimized for high-altitude flights with long diameter cylindrical tanks instead of larger spherical tanks. The second flight, which took place in 2012, reached 50 miles (82 kilometers), but the recovery chute did not work as planned. The third flight took place in January 2013 and the vehicle experienced a hard landing following a parachute failure-to-deploy, though the launch was good.


Staff and funding

Armadillo was headed, and largely funded, by
John Carmack John D. Carmack II (born August 20, 1970) is an American computer programmer and video game developer. He co-founded the video game company id Software and was the lead programmer of its 1990s games ''Commander Keen'', ''Wolfenstein 3D'', ''Doo ...
, a developer of
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s including the ''
Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * ...
'' and ''
Quake series ''Quake'' is a series of first-person shooter video games, developed by id Software and, as of 2010, published by Bethesda Softworks. The series is composed of the eponymous game from 1996 and its nonlinear, standalone sequels which vary in ...
''. During its early days, all of its employees (including Carmack) had other, full-time jobs and contributed their efforts twice weekly to Armadillo on a voluntary basis. Armadillo had a relatively small budget and was not supported by aerospace companies or agencies like
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
,
ESA , owners = , headquarters = Paris, ĂŽle-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...
, or
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
. Armadillo Aerospace publicly declared itself fully self-funded. In February 2006, Carmack stated that the program to date had cost slightly over $2 million. Even by the standards of X-Prize candidates, this is a low budget.
Scaled Composites Scaled Composites (often called simply Scaled) is an American aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman. It is located at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, United States. Founded to develo ...
is estimated to have spent $25 million on its
SpaceShipOne SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with sub-orbital spaceflight capability at speeds of up to 3,000 ft/s (900 m/s, 3240 km/h), using a hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique "feathering" a ...
development program. On August 8, 2006, Armadillo Aerospace announced that it had reached a sponsorship deal with
NVIDIA Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
. While details were sparse, John Carmack said, "There is a chance at this point that I may have written the last personal cheque I need to for Armadillo." In April 2008, Carmack offered an updated figure of "total cost to date, about $3.5 million". He estimated that another $2 million would be needed to achieve a crewed flight to 100 km using Armadillo's modular design in a "six-pack" configuration. By 2010, Armadillo had 7 full-time employees, and was profitable on ongoing operations (though Carmack was continuing to invest in development efforts). The company mascot was an
armadillo Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, along wi ...
named Widget.


2013 "Hibernation mode" and sale of assets

In August 2013, Carmack indicated that following the crash of the STIG-B rocket earlier that year, he had wound down the company operations and had put the company in "hibernation mode." Armadillo had stopped accepting (profitable) contract R&D work two years prior, in order to focus on development of a suborbital reusable rocket. During those two years, Armadillo operated at an approximately US$1 million per year
burn rate Burn rate is the rate at which a company is losing money. It is typically expressed in monthly terms. E.g., "the company's burn rate is currently $65,000 per month." In this sense, the word "burn" is a synonymous term for negative cash flow. ...
funded personally by Carmack. Several reasons were offered for this outcome, including a failure to adopt a multi-test-vehicle build strategy, making the loss of a single rocket more significant than it would have otherwise been. , Carmack was "actively looking for outside investors to restart work on the company’s rockets". In 2015 the assets of Armadillo Aerospace were sold to EXOS Aerospace Systems & Technologies, Inc.


Future research

Carmack stated in his monthly reports and in forum posts that he expected his path to an orbital vehicle to include modular rockets similar to
OTRAG OTRAG (german: links=no, Orbital Transport-und Raketen-Aktiengesellschaft, or ), was a German company based in Stuttgart, which in the late 1970s and early 1980s planned to develop an alternative propulsion system for rockets. OTRAG was the firs ...
technology.
Lutz Kayser OTRAG (german: links=no, Orbital Transport-und Raketen-Aktiengesellschaft, or ), was a German company based in Stuttgart, which in the late 1970s and early 1980s planned to develop an alternative propulsion system for rockets. OTRAG was the firs ...
, the founding engineer of OTRAG, visited Armadillo in May 2006 and loaned Carmack some of their original research hardware.
"I have been corresponding with Lutz for a few months now, and I have learned quite a few things. I seriously considered an OTRAG style massive-cluster-of-cheap-modules orbital design back when we had 98% peroxide (assumed to be a biprop with kerosene), and I have always considered it one of the viable routes to significant reduction in orbital launch costs. After really going over the trades and details with Lutz, I am quite convinced that this is the lowest development cost route to significant orbital capability. Eventually, reusable stages will take over, but I actually think that we can make it all the way to orbit on our current budget by following this path. The individual modules are less complicated than our current vehicles, and I am becoming more and more fond of high production methods over hand crafter prototypes." -- June 2006 Armadillo Aerospace Update
U.S. suborbital spaceship signs up Russian space tourist. 11/10/2010 The U.S. Armadillo Aerospace company, which is developing the suborbital spaceship for space tourist flights, announced on Monday that a Russian has become its first confirmed passenger. St Petersburg resident Evgeny Kovalev won his ticket to the cosmos in a contest organized by Efes brewery.


See also

* Alt.space *
NewSpace Private spaceflight is spaceflight or the development of spaceflight technology that is conducted and paid for by an entity other than a government agency. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Uni ...
*
List of private spaceflight companies This article is a list of non-governmental, or privately owned, entities focused on developing and/or offering equipment and services geared towards spaceflight, both robotic and human. The list includes both inactive and active entities. Comme ...
** ** **
Blue Origin Blue Origin, LLC is an American private spaceflight, privately funded aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company headquartered in Kent, Washington. Founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Am ...
*
Space Fellowship The Space Fellowship is an international news and information network dedicated to the development of the space industry. The organisation works to report and communicate space news and information to its valued community. Offering a unique an ...
– hosts the official Armadillo Aerospace Forum *
Reusable Vehicle Testing The Reusable Vehicle Testing (RVT) project was conducted by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) from 1998 until 2003. The project involved a series of experimental vehicles to test repeated flights of a reusable rocket. Four complete vehicles were d ...
– program of the Japanese Space Agency JAXA *
Commercial Spaceflight Federation The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is a private spaceflight industry group, incorporated as an industry association for the purposes of establishing ever higher levels of safety for the commercial human spaceflight industry, sharing best pract ...
*
Blue Origin New Shepard New Shepard is a fully reusable suborbital launch vehicle developed by Blue Origin for space tourism. The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, the first American astronaut in space. The vehicle is capable of vertical takeoff and vertical land ...
* * * * * * *


References


External links


Armadillo Aerospace homepage

Project update with NVIDIA sponsorship information

Project update and video of successful VTOL test flight

Project update on vehicle loss

Project update discussing intent to compete in lunar lander Centennial Challenge
(March 1, 2006)

{{Ansari X-Prize Defunct spaceflight companies Aerospace companies of the United States Space companies in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Mesquite, Texas Manufacturing companies established in 2000 Private spaceflight companies Rocket engine manufacturers of the United States Privately held companies based in Texas Manufacturing companies based in Texas Space access Companies based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex