[tt] Carmack's rocket wins $350,000 in mock moon mission

[Eugen Leitl]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/28/carmack_team_armadillo_wins_level_one_lunar_lander/

Carmack's rocket wins $350,000 in mock moon mission

Third time's the charm for Doom creator

By Austin Modine • Get more from this author

Posted in Space, 28th October 2008 21:18 GMT

John Carmack, creator of the childhood-innocence-purging video games Doom and
Quake, has finally lead his team of rocketeers at Armadillo Aerospace to
victory in the annual Northrop Grumman Lunar Landing challenge.

In its third year of participation, Armadillo Aerospace has snagged $350,000
in prize money for winning Level One of the two-tiered competition held
October 24 to 25 at Las Cruces International Airport in New Mexico.

Armadillo's winning vehicle "Pixel" was able to rise to an altitude of 50
meters and touch down on a landing pad 100 meters away, while staying aloft
for at least 90 seconds. The team then had to refuel and repeat the challenge
in reverse within two and a half hours.

The competition is sponsored by NASA's Centennial Challenges program with a
total purse of $2m designed to promote commercial space technology.

Level Two requires contestants to navigate a larger vehicle designed to stay
aloft for twice as long and land on a simulated lunar terrain. Carmack's team
made an attempt at Level Two this year, but were stymied by technical
problems. As a result, $1.65m in prize money remains on the table for future
competitions.

"It's great that we won the Level One," said Carmack. "We're going to keep
working towards Level Two, which we can hopefully compete for again soon. We
know exactly what we need to nail down and expect to have it solved in the
next couple of weeks."

Although nine teams were registered for the 2008 challenge, only two ended up
flying their vehicles this year. The other competitor, Chicago-based
TrueZer0, was able to reach a height of 50 meters, but was unable to complete
the 100 meter translation to the second landing pad.

Armadillo's entry for 2007 ended on its fourth attempt that year when the
vehicle's engine exploded on ignition. The previous year, victory was
snatched away when the lander's legs kept breaking off.

The X-Prize Foundation has a highlight video of day one of the
competition,including Armadillo's winning flight

There's also a clip of the second day's unsuccessful attempt at Level Two,
along with Carmack explaining what went wrong.