Experimental Rocket Propulsion Society
After two years of near-misses, Armadillo Aerospace won a $350,000 prize Friday in an rocket contest created by NASA to encourage the development of new lunar lander prototypes.
The rules for the challenge’s Level 1 contest call for teams to fly their remote-controlled, rocket-powered landers up to a height of 50 meters (yards), hover for at least 90 seconds, land at another pad 100 meters (yards) away, refuel and then retrace the route — all within 150 minutes.
Ron Cowen has an article in Science News about water at the Lunar South Pole.
“The Japanese spacecraft Kaguya finds no visible evidence that a lunar south pole crater holds ice” the article starts out. It seems the Japanese probe that’s been mapping the Moon from a polar lunar orbit isn’t seeing surface water.
| Attending: | Michael W, Julie P, Dan S, Stellan L, Gerald N. |
| Call to order: | 8:03 pm at the home of G. Nordley. |
| Attending: | D. Weinshenker, S. Longstrom, J. Porter, D. Solvin, M. Wallis, G. Nordley |
| Call to order: | 8:25 pm at the home of G. Nordley. |
Number four seems to have done the job for SpaceX as their fourth Falcon 1 launch attempt was a success and became the first privately developed space launch vehicle to reach orbit.
The data showed they achieved a super precise orbit insertion — middle of the bullseye — and then went on to coast and restart the second stage, which was icing on the cake.
The next Falcon 1 launch will carry RazakSat into orbit for Malaysia in Dec or Jan of 2009.
If that launch is successful, the larger Falcon 9 rocket will take flight Cape Canaveral, FL for the first time sometime in Q2 2009.
Video after the break.
Continue reading ‘“Fourth time’s a charm” For SpaceX’