An Orderly Account

About the Name

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent The-oph’ilus, that you may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed. -- Luke 1:1-4

Relax, I know I’m not writing the New Testament here, but I will try to follow a few things closely. — Dick Sandlin

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Features

Armadillo Qualifies in NASA Challenge

A Texas company, Armadillo Aerospace, has successfully met the Level 2 requirements for the NASA Centennial Challenges - Lunar Lander Challenge and qualified to win a $1 million dollar first place prize. The flights were conducted Sept. 12 at the Armadillo Aerospace test facility in Caddo Mills, Texas. This video shows the first portion of the test. You can click on the 2 minute point on the timeline to skip to the actual flight test.

To qualify for the Level 2 prize, Armadillo Aerospace’s rocket vehicle “Scorpius” took off from one concrete pad, ascended to 50 meters, moved 60 meters horizontally, then landed on a second pad that featured boulders and craters to simulate the lunar surface. After refueling at that pad, the vehicle then repeated the flight back and landed at the original pad. The vehicle completed the round trip, including fueling and refueling operations, in one hour and 47 minutes, well within the two and half hour time limit. Armadillo Aerospace also met the requirement to remain aloft under rocket power for three minutes during each of the flights. Two other companies are entered in the contest and one of them has had an unsuccessful trial.

The Scorpius single-engine vehicle weighs about 1,900 pounds fully loaded with liquid oxygen and ethanol fuel and is flown with a combination of automatic controls and remote-manual commands. Andrew Petro, NASA’s Centennial Challenge program manager said, “It was a great demonstration of reusable rocket technology and the use of non-toxic propellants, which is of great value to NASA and important to the future of spaceflight.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 09/22 at 08:54 PM