It's all smiles around at Armadillo Aerospace in Mesquite, Texas. The company's experimental rocket hardware took one small hop for a man, lofting into the sky the fearless Russ Blink, a member of the group's research and development team.
On September 28, Blink made the first piloted flight of Armadillo Aerospace's experimental craft. The company is working on computer-controlled hydrogen peroxide rocket-powered vehicles. They have an eye on the sub-orbital X Prize, a $10 million purse being offered to help stimulate space tourism.
Blink wore a hazardous materials suit to fend off any peroxide spray. He also wore goggles, earplugs, and a filter mask. The vehicle itself was chained securely to the ground. A just-in-case ambulance was also on site.
Important strides
"In a technical sense, there was little difference between this hop and the half dozen ones before it. We continued to make minor improvements every couple flights, but there were no dramatic changes," said Armadillo Aerospace leader, John Carmack.
"However, I do believe that the act of flying a person for even a very modest hop takes our work from the category of 'curious remote control vehicle' to 'prototype rocketship'", Carmack told SPACE.com.
While three feet off the ground, Carmack admits, is certainly a long, long way from space, the rocketeer and software guru said their team continues to make important strides. Computer guidance, reusability, inexpensive hardware development, and rapid turnaround - these are solid steps down the path to reach for the sky, he added.
"The largest difference between the current system and a space shot vehicle is the size and shape of the tanks," Carmack said.
Paperwork
Armadillo Aerospace has a set of challenging milestones ahead. An unpiloted, streamlined vehicle is to fly to a few thousand feet by the end of the year. Testing of powerful peroxide/kerosene, regeneratively cooled engines, is also slated.
"Next year we will be building a completely new vehicle that will be capable of at least manned supersonic flight, and will likely be edging close to space shot status," Carmack said.
"We declared our intention to compete for the X-Prize a while ago," Carmack said, "but I had put off filing an official entry."
With the current distinction of being the only team to fly a piloted rocket, Carmack said he's going ahead and submitting X Prize paperwork. "We fully expect to fly an X Prize class vehicle by the end of 2004. I have the money for the development, and our team is getting better all the time," he said.
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