Ian Kluft is tweeting progress. Sounds like a much calmer day than the last two, which should be good for accuracy. I think that Armadillo got overconfident. As people noted in comments at Clark Lindsey’s place, they had another opportunity in September to go for a tighter landing, and declined it. They may end up regretting it, but only if Masten can shake whatever’s been jinxing them for the last couple days.
[Update at 10:10 AM PDT]
They should be flying in a minute or sofew minutes.
[Update at 10:20]
They took off and are hovering off their required three minutes before landing.
[11:25 update]
They’re refueling and preparing for the trip home. They landed about a foot from the target on the first flight. I don’t know how that compares to Armadillo’s flight, but I suspect it’s tighter.
[11:29 update]
The vehicle is fueled (alcohol). Now it just needs to be oxidized, with LOX.
[Update early afternoon]
I missed it, because I was in a meeting, but congratulations, Masten. They not only accomplished the goal, but they snatched first place from Armadillo.
John Carmack is understandably unhappy, but as he admits, he had a chance to better his score earlier, and didn’t take it.
[Update a few minutes later]
Alan Boyle has a fairly up-to-date story, including a preview of this afternoon’s first attempt by Unreasonable Rocket.
theyve done it. with ample drama accompanying it.
Masten has come a very long way. I have a lot of respect for Dave and his crew. And I applaud XPF for continuing the Lunar Lander Challenge in lieu of the X PRIZE Cup.
Few people appreciate how difficult the Level II really is, or how much it would cost for the USG to create even one. Two and a half (Paul Breed is nearly there) such vehicles are now in existence, and we have spent not a penny of taxpayer money on the development.
Major congrats to Masten!
Thank you guys!
~Jon
Bravo! Now let’s see about Masten’s time to market.