LAS
CRUCES, New Mexico -- The third time was not the charm for homebuilt hardware
designed to win a Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.
A privately-built vertical takeoff and
landing rocket shot for NASA Moon money today but failed at the Wirefly X Prize
Cup--an expo of private rocketeers devoted to personal space travel.
Called Pixel, the craft quickly tipped over
and crashed shortly after liftoff. An onboard fire was quickly doused.
The apparent cause of the mishap was a jerry-rigged launch support for the craft that had to be built when the vehicle broke one of its landing
legs in an earlier flight.
That makeshift support was disturbed when the
rocket's engines ignited. The vehicle rose up at an angle, causing onboard abort
sensors to shut down the propulsion system. Pixel then fell over sharply and
hit the ground.
Pixel is the product of space entrepreneur
John Carmack and his fellow rocketeers at Armadillo Aerospace of Mesquite,
Texas.
A computer gaming wizard, Carmack is
co-founder and chief technical engineer of id Software.
Down for the count
"Pixel is probably not going to fly again,"
Carmack said in a post-crash interview. "It's down for the count."
The vehicle ran well earlier today,
blasting up into the sky, hovering, and then translated itself under remote
control for a touchdown on a landing pad. That flight was the first in a
two-part run to win a $350,000 prize.
The Pixel ran into problems attempting to
repeat its flight successfully to earn the prize money.
On Friday, the same craft was damaged on
landing after achieving a smooth flight through the air. Pixel engineers worked
overnight to make the two fights today.
The Cup has been a two day event, held here
October 20-21 at the Las Cruces International Airport.
Part of the festivities was the Northrop
Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Money was offered by NASA under its Centennial
Challenges program - a space agency initiative that promotes technical
innovation through a novel program of prize contests.
Overall, some $2 million in Lunar Lander
Challenge prize money--subdivided into levels of achievement--remains unclaimed.
Rocket teams, including Armadillo Aerospace, are expected to compete in next
year's Cup.
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