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Black Armadillo

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Black Armadillo

Status: Study 2004. Gross mass: 8,000 kg (17,600 lb).

Black Armadillo was a concept of John Carmack of Armadillo Aerospace, Mesquite, Texas. The vehicle used rocket-powered vertical takeoff and a parachute descent to a touchdown on land cushioned by a crushable nose cone. Armadillo Aerospace was incorporated on January 1, 2001, with the objective of winning the X-Prize. The Black Armadillo's propulsion system consisted of four pressure-fed, hydrogen peroxide, monopropellant system rocket engines fed from a single tank with a capacity of 6,055 liters. Testing of the crushable nose cone landing system was performed on a full-scale test vehicle dropped from 6 km altitude.

After SpaceShipOne had won the X-Prize, Armadillo Aerospace continued development of suborbital, piloted spacecraft. The company built a subscale demonstrator of a proposed one-person suborbital spacecraft, a conical vehicle three meters tall and powered by a LOX/ethanol engine. Armadillo Aerospace conducted an unmanned low-level test flight of the demonstrator at the X Prize Cup Exhibition in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in October 2005. A full-scale vehicle may be ready for suborbital spaceflight from White Sands, New Mexico as early as 2006. Armadillo's founder, John Carmack, had invested $2.5 million into the venture between 2000 and 2005.

• Black Armadillo test. - . Nation: USA. Program: X-Prize. Spacecraft Bus: X-Prize. Spacecraft: Black Armadillo. Armadillo Aerospace (Mesquite, Texas, USA) successfully flight tests manned lander vehicle..

• Black Armadillo tube rocket test. - . Nation: USA. Program: X-Prize. Spacecraft Bus: X-Prize. Spacecraft: Black Armadillo. Armadillo Aerospace (Mesquite, Texas, USA) unsuccessfully tests flight of their tube rocket..

• Black Armadillo first drop test. - . Nation: USA. Program: X-Prize. Spacecraft Bus: X-Prize. Spacecraft: Black Armadillo. Armadillo Aerospace (Mesquite, Texas, USA) performed full-scale drop tests of their crushable nose cone..

• Black Armadillo drop tests. - . Nation: USA. Program: X-Prize. Spacecraft Bus: X-Prize. Spacecraft: Black Armadillo. Armadillo Aerospace (Mesquite, Texas, USA) performed their second and third full-scale drop tests of their crushable nose cone. The third test was manned. Both tests were considered successful..

• Black Armadillo subscale hover tests. - . Nation: USA. Program: X-Prize. Spacecraft Bus: X-Prize. Spacecraft: Black Armadillo. Armadillo Aerospace (Mesquite, Texas, USA) performed suspended hover tests of their sub-scale (two foot diameter) vehicle. Problems with electronic components and flight control software caused early termination of the tests..

• Black Armadillo drop tests. - . Nation: USA. Program: X-Prize. Spacecraft Bus: X-Prize. Spacecraft: Black Armadillo. Armadillo Aerospace (Mesquite, Texas, USA) performs a successful full-scale drop tests of their X PRIZE vehicle from a helicopter to test the crushable nosecone system. .

• Black Armadillo prototype engine tests. - . Nation: USA. Program: X-Prize. Spacecraft Bus: X-Prize. Spacecraft: Black Armadillo. Armadillo Aerospace tested their X-Prize prototype vehicle's ability to ignite its multiple engines and hover several feet off the ground. Post test inspection showed that the vehicle insulation held up well, with no signs of any heat damage..