Friday, November 16, 2007

Private Space Flight

Armadillo Aerospace attempted to win the Northrop-Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge this year at the X-Prize Cup but was not successful.



According to Wikipedia:

Armadillo Aerospace is an aerospace startup company based in Mesquite, Texas. Its initial goal is to build a manned suborbital spacecraft capable of space tourism, but it has stated long-term ambitions of orbital spaceflight. The company was founded in the year 2000, and was incorporated on January 1, 2001....

Armadillo is headed and has been largely funded by John Carmack, a developer of computer games including the Doom and Quake series. All of its employees (including Carmack) have other, full-time jobs and contribute their efforts twice weekly to Armadillo on a voluntary basis. Armadillo has a relatively small budget and is not supported by aerospace companies or agencies like NASA, ESA, or Boeing. Armadillo Aerospace has publicly declared itself fully self-funded.

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