Armadillo Aerospace's third attempt to win the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge ended with a crash, dashing its hopes of winning the $350,000 prize.
The team's rocket had 2.5 hours to lift off at one launch pad and hover for 90 seconds at an altitude of 50 metres as it moved to a second launch pad 100 metres away, then do the same thing in reverse.
The rocket, called Pixel, landed with only minor damage after the first leg of the trip. But roughly 2 seconds into its return flight, it started to veer off course, prompting an engine shutdown. Pixel landed on its side and crashed near the launch pad.
It had tried for the prize twice before but had landing problems both times after the first flight segment. On the first attempt on Friday, it landed too hard, snapping its legs off and frying some wiring. After team members made some overnight repairs, they made a second try on Saturday morning, but Pixel tipped over after landing.
On Saturday afternoon, they tried again. As it was landing from the first flight segment, one of Pixel's four legs was damaged. So before its return trip, technicians propped up the leg.
But the quick fix did not work and the leg fell off. Pixel then tipped a little in flight, so its engines automatically shut down and it fell back to Earth.
The crash started a small fire. When firefighters put it out, the surrounding sand got wet and froze to the rocket's chilled oxygen tank. As a result, Pixel will probably become scrap parts for Armadillo. "It's probably not going to fly again," says Armadillo team leader John Carmack, creator of the video game Doom.
Armadillo, based in Mesquite, Texas, US, was vying for the $350,000 first prize in the first year of the Lunar Lander Challenge, one of NASA's Centennial Challenges to spark technological advances. The challenge is meant to develop rockets that can take off and land vertically on the Moon.
Three other teams had registered but did not have their vehicles ready in time for the competition. Carmack said he predicted there would be "at most one additional qualifier" for the competition next year.
Pixel is comprised of four spherical fuel and oxidiser tanks that are each about 1 metre in diameter, while the entire rocket is a squat 2 metres tall. It cost a total of about $50,000, with about $40,000 going just for the computer.
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