[sgcullen]

The Armadillo Aerospace Team lead by software and game guru John Carmack came extremely close on Saturday to taking home the Level One Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge purse. See the exclusive SpaceSpot.com video of Saturday's return run right here. Their first run with their lander, dubbed "MOD", was completed successfully. The team next experienced some fuel line issues during the second attempt refueling. With those cleared up, it appeared all was a go for Armadillo to make their second run and claim the $350,000 Level One Prize. As dirt and dust swirled around the craft hovering just feet above it's ultimate destination during it's second run through the course, the lander tipped over, ending the team's chances for the day. One of the judges for the competition, John Herrington, said that Armadillo had a hard start that cracked the vehicle’s motor. That problem caused a thrust vectoring problem, causing the craft to go into a soft abort. And that step led to a hard abort, with the vehicle coming down and falling over.

The team's second attempt Sunday morning was equally exciting, but no more successful than Saturday’s. The morning’s first attempt saw the MOD appearing to run rough. The motor sputtered in fits as it made its way across the desert. The second liftoff, punctuated by bangs and pops, ended with the MOD lifting off the ground only to find itself back on the ground second later. The word is that a fuel leak may have lead to this morning’s difficulties.

The current status is that the craft is flight worthy but the engine did not pass a technical inspection. The team continues to work feverishly at the site to try again this afternoon. It appears that they are actually swapping out the current motor with the one from their other lander, Pixel. Pixel was to be the craft that they used for the much more difficult Level Two.

Stay tuned to SpaceSpot for more updates.

About the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge

$2 million in total awaits the team that successfully completes Level One and Level Two of the The Lunar Lander.

Level 1 requires a rocket to take off from a designated launch area, rocket up to 150 feet (50 meters) altitude, and then hover for 90 seconds while landing precisely on a landing pad nearly 330 feet (100 meters) away. The flight must then be repeated in reverse - and both flights, along with all of the necessary preparation for each, must take place within a two and a half hour period.

Level 2 requires the rocket to hover for twice as long before landing precisely on a simulated lunar surface, packed with craters and boulders to mimic actual lunar terrain. The hover times are calculated so that the Level 2 mission closely simulates the power needed to perform a real lunar mission.

[sgcullen]

Well, it's over. And not in a good way. In the second attempt of the day today, the Armadillo Aerospace MOD Lander burst into flames. John Carmack, Armadillo's leader, decided not to go for a third try later tonight. There is still $2 million up for grabs with the X PRIZE Cup and, hopefully, next year we will see the other 8 competitors show up who couldn't get their crafts ready in time for this year's event.