The Armadillo Aerospace founder is referring to the STIG-B rocket. A similar early abort occurred on Oct. 6.
Tag: john carmack
Armadillo’s STIG-B Flies, Aborts Early Again
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Armadillo Aerospace Founder John Carmack has offered a prize for “the next ground launched rocket flight above 100,000′ with GPS log and successful recovery.” He offered $5,000 for the flight; that total is now at $8,000 with contributions by Paul Breed ($2,000) and Robin Snelson ($1,000). Carmack’s description of the prize follows after the break.
Continue reading ‘Carmack Offers Prize for Next Rocket Flight’
Gamesutra reports that millionaut Richard Garriott is assisting John Carmack and Armadillo Aerospace in its efforts to develop a human suborbital business:
As far as the future of space travel, Garriott sees it coming from the private sector, notably John Carmack of id Software, with his company Armadillo Aerospace. “His next stage is to be able to send people into space on a vertical takeoff vertical landing orbit,†said Garriott, who revealed that he is now helping fund Carmack’s venture by funneling in money from investors who want to eventually take a space flight.
“I am a passionate believer that humanity’s destiny is to live beyond the confines of the earth,†said Garriot. “And it’s going to be us that do it! It’s not going to be big government groups, it’s going to be people like our community.â€
Armadillo Aerospace Founder John Carmack celebrates his 40th birthday in microgravity with co-workers and family. (Thanks to Clark Lindsey at Hobby Space for this one.)
Fresh off a cash infusion from new partner Space Adventures, Armadillo Aerospace CEO John Carmack spent some time this weekend sniping at rivals during the NSS International Space Development Conference in Chicago. Jeff Foust reports in The Space Review:
Carmack generated a little bit of controversy when he compared Armadillo’s efforts with those by competing suborbital developers. Virgin Galactic, he suggested, would not be able to fly as cheaply as Armadillo; Virgin currently charges $200,000 for a ticket while Space Adventures is asking for about half that, $102,000. “I think they have explicitly not chosen the most cost effective solution on this,†Carmack said. “I don’t think they will be able to compete on price, eventually, but some people will prefer their experience.â€
Continue reading ‘Armadillo’s Carmack Snipes at Rivals, Threatens to Steal Their Engineers’
John Carmack of Armadillo Aerospace, talks about the propulsion system for the Rocket Racers of the Rocket Racing League.
John Carmack
CEO and Founder, Armadillo Aerospace
- Showed a promotional video highlighting company’s progress
- Played a second video in which the vehicle lost control at 4,000 feet and fell head-over-tail to the ground
Business Update:
- Company is growing. Taken on two more full-time team members
- Operating profit again this year – marginally profitable small aerospace company right now
- Couple of customers paying them decent money – “We’re very distracted by these customers.†(laughter)
- Armadillo Aerospace was operating at the margins of what they could sustain
- Sold his software company last year – provided Armadillo with some more financial stability…
- What we’re flying now is pretty close to what we need for reusable suborbital vehicles. A number of upgrades needed that they are working on.
- Hoped to have a new business deal to announce for the conference…announcement due within the next month…
- Will be conducting tests at Texas launch site, the Oklahoma Spaceport, and Spaceport America in New Mexico
Continue reading ‘Space Access 10: John Carmack of Armadillo Aerospace’
LLC Judging Protest
Statement by John Carmack
Founder, Armadillo Aerospace
Competitor, Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
For the past couple weeks, as it became clear that Masten had a real shot at completing the level 2 Lunar Lander Challenge and bettering our landing accuracy, I have been kicking myself for not taking the competition more seriously and working on a better landing accuracy. If they pulled it off, I was prepared to congratulate them and give a bit of a sheepish mea culpa. Nobody to be upset at except myself. We could have probably made a second flight in the drizzle on our scheduled days, and once we had the roll thruster issue sorted out, our landing accuracy would have been in the 20cm range. I never thought it was worth investing in differential RTK GPS systems, because it has no bearing on our commercial operations.
The current situation, where Masten was allowed a third active day of competition, after trying and failing on both scheduled days, is different. I don’t hold anything against Masten for using an additional time window that has been offered, since we wouldn’t have passed it up if we were in their situation, but I do think this was a mistake on the judges part.
Continue reading ‘John Carmack’s Statement on NGLLC Judging Controversy’
John Carmack, founder of Armadillo Aerospace, is crying foul over the decision to give Masten Space Systems an extra day to complete its Level 2 flight for the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. He sent a email to Alan Boyle over at MSNBC:
The current situation, where Masten was allowed a third active day of competition, after trying and failing on both scheduled days, is different. I don’t hold anything against Masten for using an additional time window that has been offered, since we wouldn’t have passed it up if we were in their situation, but I do think this was a mistake on the judges part…..
Continue reading ‘Armadillo’s Carmack: I Was Robbed by NGLLC Judges’
Clark Lindsey over at Hobby Space points to this USA Today story about the acquisition of John Carmack’s id Software company:
id Software, the original garage band of game developers, now has a place to park its properties.
ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, announced today that it will acquire the Mesquite, Tex.-based id. That means classic game franchises such as Doom and Quake will now sit alongside Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls in ZeniMax’s portfolio.
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