Posted 10.29.2007 at 2:54 pm
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Another day, another failed attempt to forward space technology. Less than a week after the Space Elevator Games concluded without a winner, the X Prize Cup followed suit. The much favored Armadillo Aerospace—the only one of nine entrants ready by the start of the event—dashed hopes when their lander exploded while still on the launch pad. Accordingly, no one walked away with the $350,000 Level 1 purse, leaving our LANDR proposition (trading in the mid-60s at the start of the competition) to close out at $0. Sorry space fans, better luck next time.—Abby Seiff
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The delisting and payout are correct, but Abby Seiff seems to have not paid much attention here -- Armadillo's lander did not explode while still on the launch pad. Quite on the contrary, it made four flights, and the "explosion" (fire) happened at the end of the fourth attempt, when it was returning from a successful flight to the checkpoint and attempting to land.
Quite right, Joe. Didn't mean to insinuate that they burned at the beginning, only that the explosion signaled the end for them.
From everything I've read, however, the explosion on the fourth attempt did happen before lift-off (not during the landing). Wonder where the disparity came from.