On the second leg of a two-part pad to pad hop, Armadillo Aerospace failed in its bid to snag money here at the X Prize Cup at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.

The rocket roared off its landing pad in a return-leg attempt to grab Level One prize money as part of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.

All was going well, and the team appeared ready to win a $350,000 purse.

Trouble took over, however, as the multi-legged lander hovered over its pad, kicking up clouds of dust in the process. The dust cleared revealing that the craft had tipped over from its landing zone.

No word yet on overall cause of the mishap. Some speculation suggested that a gust of wind appeared to have created some last-second control issues.

Also, no immediate idea of any damage to the craft. The team has brought a trio of lunar lander vehicles to fly at the X Prize Cup…so it’s anticipated Armadillo will be again ready to roar on Sunday.

 

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 27th, 2007 at 2:57 pm and is filed under Space & Astronomy, Technology, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.