Space Adventures Partners with Armadillo

I can't understate the significance of this announcement.

I mentioned a couple years ago that Space Adventures, the provider of tourist flights to the International Space Station, were advertising that they were planning on providing suborbital tourist flights at $102,000 per ticket. I stated this because that's what appears on their website, but I doubted it would actually happen. I felt that way because, among other considerations, Space Adventures didn't appear to have plans to build, purchase, or charter suborbital spacecraft.

Today, that may all have changed.

I got an announcement in my e-mail today that Space Adventures is partnering with Armadillo Aerospace. Armadillo has done rocketry work for NASA and the US Air Force, along with competing in several X-Prize moon lander competitions. However, their plans have always centered around developing the expertise and capabilities necessary to build a suborbital tourist spacecraft. This announcement is a major step toward that goal, because Armadillo will finally have a major source of funding.

It appears that Space Adventures will be to Armadillo Aerospace what Virgin Galactic is to Scaled Composites; the source of marketing and funding necessary to make tourist spacecraft a reality. And at a lower price point, this makes for very healthy competition. I won't be changing my bars below to reflect the lower price because Space Adventures and Armadillo haven't yet announced designs for the potential new spacecraft, making Virgin Galactic still the best bet. It will probably be at least five years before anything is even ready for a test flight.

With that said, this is still amazingly good news.

Trip to Space

Progress: 6.47%  Flight Time: 0:09:42

Solar Array

Progress: 6.47%  Power: 65W

NASA Awards Lunar Lander Prizes

Okay, I've been gone for a long while. Here's a brief explanation of why: My workplace has been treating me and those around me so horridly this past year, that I hardly have motivation enough to come to work in the morning, much less update this website a couple of times per week.

However, enough space tourism news has happened recently that I feel compelled to write a few updates. Also, I want to write one of my long-winded rants, this time on the subject of quasars. Take note, though, that I still won't be posting as frequently as before until I get out of this horrid job.

But enough of that. Let's start with this:

I have written before about the Lunar Lander Challenge, which is managed by the X-Prize foundation. Well, this year's challenge has come and gone, and this time, there are two winners.

Masten Space Systems won 1.15 million dollars from Nasa for completing the more difficult Level 2 challenge, to demonstrate a vehicle that can take off to hover at least 150 feet, stay flying while at least 180 seconds, travel 300 meters, lan on a rocky moon-like surface, then repeat the whole process in reverse within 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Armadillo Aerospace won second place, earning $500,000 for doing the same thing; they just didn't do it quite as fast.

It should be noted that the principal goals of each of these companies is not to create landers; they are both interested in actual spaceflight, specifically with the average consumer in mind. Masten is interested in flying your stuff to space on the cheap (though they emphasize vertical takeoff and landing technology), and Armadillo is working toward developing tourist spacecraft. So this good news for space tourism all around.

As an added bonus, these flights represent the first time the Level 2 challenge has been completed.

Oh, another interesting note: I just updated the bars at the bottom of the post. My solar panel savings have caught up with my trip to space savings, exactly. They're both at 6.47%. Weird.

Trip to Space

Progress: 6.47%  Flight Time: 0:09:42

Solar Array

Progress: 6.47%  Power: 65W

Catch-Up: Armadillo Teams Up with the Rocket Racing League

While I've run across references to the Rocket Racing League several times through following space travel news, I haven't mentioned them because I hadn't found anything that connected them in a significant manner to the space tourism industry. That has now changed.

The Rocket Racing League, owned by Rocket Racing, Inc., started primarily as an entertainment company. They support the development of rocket-powered aerial vehicles, which then race against each other. The stated ambition of the league is to one day race spacecraft against each other. The development toward this goal has in recent years contributed to advances in the spaceflight industry, and it has been speculated that the group is a good candidate to get involved in the space tourism industry.

And now it's official. In late October, a joint venture was announced between Rocket Racing Inc., Armadillo Aerospace, and the government of New Mexico to develop a vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) spacecraft with the capability of sending two tourists into space at or below the price of $100,000 each. These spacecraft would take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico, and would allow tourists to float freely with a 360-degree view of their surroundings.

If this spacecraft actually gets built and used as stated, I may switch my personal ambitions from Virgin Galactic's offering to this one. Besides SpaceShipTwo, this is the only proposed space tourism craft that would allow people to float freely, and this one would have a much better view. And at half the price, that little purple bar at the bottom of my posts would get much bigger.

The spacecraft would basically be a modified and scaled-up version of that which Armadillo has slowly been planning for years. Here's a picture!

Progress: 4.03%  Flight Time: 0:06:05

Catch-Up: 2008 Lunar Lander Challenge

Last year's Lunar Lander Challenge was apparently quite the event! For those of you who aren't familiar with the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, it's an annual event put on by the X-Prize Foundation challenging companies to create a viable lunar lander type vehicle that can perform certain tasks. This alone has little to do with space tourism. However, every year, one of the most viable entrants is Armadillo Aerospace, a small company dedicated to the advancement of technologies that could be of use in space tourism.

This was the third year of the challenge. In 2006 and 2007, there were no winners, because nobody was able to complete the required tasks. Specifically, there are two challenges. The level 1 challenge, for $350,000 requires a vehicle to lift off, travel laterally to a specified location, land, lift off again, make a return trip, and land, all within a specified amount of time. The level 2 challenge, for $1,000,000, requires additional tasks.

Well, the results are in, and this year, Armadillo Aerospace won the level 1 challenge! They also made an unsuccessful attempt at the level 2 challenge, but indicated they would try again this year. Congratulations to them and to Widget, their funny little armadillo mascot.

Hey, and I found this awesome picture of Armadillo's vehicle during the level 1 challenge:

Progress: 4.03%  Flight Time: 0:06:05

Armadillo Enters Lunar Lander Challenge

Well, Armadillo Aerospace (one of my personal favorite space travel startups) has just announced their entry into the X-Prize foundation's Lunar Lander Challenge.

This comes as no surprise, as Armadillo Aerospace was the only entrant to fly in the 2006 and 2007 X-Prize Cups, similar to this challenge. The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge will take place in the New Mexico desert in late October. The challenge is designed to get people to construct vehicles with lunar-lander-like capabilities. There are two levels to the competition. Level 1 challenges entrants to construct a craft to take off, hover at 50 meters for 90 seconds, land on a spot 50 meters away, then do the entire thing in reverse, all within two and a half hours. Level 2 requires the craft to hover twice as long and land on a simulated lunar surface full of boulders and craters. Level 2 in particular is designed to simulate the capabilities needed for a real lunar mission.

The previous (and very similar) X-Prize Cups have had no winners. However, in the 2007 X-Prize Cup, Armadillo Aerospace only missed winning the Level 1 competition by 7 seconds.

I figure I should talk a little more about this company; I haven't spoken much about them in the past, but I've been following their progress, and they're pretty impressive.

Armadillo Aerospace was founded in the year 2000 by a group of volunteers dedicated to developing the technology to allow tourists to fly into space (which is, of course, why I talk about them here). They are still a very small group of (mostly) volunteers, operating out of Dallas, Texas. However, their group is very specialized, and they've done some very impressive things considering their size.

Their philosophy on rocket design is inspired from typical software design (not surprising, since one of their members, Jack Carmack, is a well known computer game designer). They design a simple rocket, build it and test it relatively quickly, then design the next one to weed out the bugs and add new features. This method seems to have been serving them well, as it has allowed them to test many, many designs and arrive at relatively advanced rockets without years of research and feasibility studies. They have even done work for NASA and the Air Force, whose methods they have poo-pooed for being way too slow (this is the common argument that most space tourism start-ups use about the government). Also, they have a philosophy of completely admitting it and talking about it when they screw up, which does happen quite often. I think this serves them well.

After the Lunar Lander challenge, Armadillo Aerospace plans on beginning design and construction of its first modular rocket prototype, a later generation of which they hope will take people into space. At about $200,000 a pop, of course.

Progress: 4.03%  Flight Time: 0:06:05

More Potential Space Tourism Companies

Okay, okay, I missed a few, I admit it! There are just so (surprisingly) many space tourism companies out there, it's hard not to miss a few. If you want to read my original list, it's here, but here's details on a few more companies that might have a future interest in sending you to space!

LiftPort Group
The LiftPort group is a corporation that is affiliated with several companies with the common interest in building a space elevator. That's right, folks, a space elevator! They plan on developing the technology required to suspend a satellite in orbit and tether it to a platform floating in the South Pacific with a couple of ribbons made from carbon nanotubes thousands of miles long. These ribbons will support lifters (powered by ground-based lasers) that will be able to carry loads into orbit and back. Quite an endeavor! However, they have most of the physics worked out, and it seems quite feasible. So far, they have successfully suspended a tethered platform a mile up (via propellants) and had prototype lifters climb up and down the tether. They plan to have their first full-scale lift launch on October 27, 3031. Tickets are available now! (However, each ticket is only good to have one ounce lifted into orbit.)
Price:
Proposed orbital lifts: $25 per ounce

Armadillo Aerospace
Armadillo Aerospace was founded in the year 2000, and has a stated goal of sub-orbital space tourism, and log-term goals of orbital manned space flight. Their organization is relatively small, but they have had some success in the design and construction of proof-of-concept space vehicle components. They were a competitor in the original Ansari X-Prize, and they compete today in the X-Prize Cup. Armadillo's creations rely on computer-controlled stabilization systems instead of being aerodynamic, and can therefore be quite unique in design. In 2004, they demonstrated the third unmanned vehicle in history capable of vertical takeoff and landing. They are currently researching solutions for lunar-lander and orbital launch vehicles. And they have a really cool little mascot named Widget.

ARCA
ARCA (Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association) is an organization financed by a group of European companies. Like Armadillo Aerospace, they were one of the participants in the original Ansari X-Prize competition, and they are competitors today in the X-Prize cup. Like Scaled Composites, they specialize partly in composite materials, and in fact built and launched the first rocket constructed of composite materials. They have a couple of manned space-related projects in the works, and while I haven't seen any officially announced plans for them to venture into space tourism, it remains a possibility.

Rocketplane Global
Rocketplane Global was founded in Oklahoma in 2001. The company's sole purpose is the development of commercial space travel. They are currently developing the XP, a spacecraft that looks strikingly like a business jet; the main difference is the giant rocket built into the back. It will carry a pilot and five passengers, and unlike SpaceShipTwo, it will be capable of powered flight after re-entry. The vehicle's design was announced late last year, along with a rough timeline of flight tests in 2009 and initial tourist flights in 2010.
Price:
Proposed sub-orbital flights: $250,000

XCOR Aerospace
XCOR designs rockets and vehicles for space agencies all over the world. Among their current projects is a design for a methane rocket engine to be installed on the lunar return vehicle that will be used by NASA when they return to the moon. More to the point, though, they are developing the Xerus, a low-budget sub-orbital space plane that will carry one pilot and one passenger to the edge of space and back. They intend this vehicle to be used for space tourism.

And well, those are all of the potential space tourism companies I am aware of. Those, along with my original list of nine, bring the number up to no less than fourteen companies actively developing systems that could enable tourists to take to space! Imagine, if even two or three of these companies succeed in their efforts, we could have all sorts of options for different forms of spaceflight, and a lot of competition four our space tourism dollars. These are exciting times indeed!

Progress: 3.24%  Flight Time: 0:04:51