Armadillo Aerospace had a perfect flight of their testbed vehicle yesterday. There's video (7 MB MPEG) and some notes on the Armadillo website.

It's a really impressive flight, reminiscent of DC-X, if a bit shorter (and a heck of a lot cheaper). Congratulations to the Armadillo crew.

That is a great way to begin the day, Andrew! I am very, very impressed!

Congrats to the Armadillo Team!

Great video to watch at the beginning of what was looking to be an otherwise dreary hump-day! I really like the openness of the Armadillo team in their web write-ups, and it's good to see their thought processes on some of the issues they're experiencing.

Also positive to see them rooting for SS1, even though it's in direct competition with them. I agree with them that it's more important THAT the X-Prize is won, and less important WHO wins it.

All in all, it was a good start to what should be a rather exciting group of 6 or 7 days!

You mention the DC-X. Are there any other vehicles (at least publicly-known) that have done boosted hops like this?

Absolutely beautiful! Can't wait to see how it handles longer burns and winds. Hope it doesn't take very long for AST to approve longer burn time.

Dan:

I believe the JSA tested a small-scale DCX-type craft a few months back as a research project; you may be able to find some information about that on the web.

That is so damned cool. The invisible peroxide exhaust reminds me of that British launcher, and makes the whole thing spookier.

I might also add that I hope that Rutan's flight on Monday, if successful, gets headlines and front pages. I will be sorely disappointed if it gets buried in the "Science Blotter" or just gets a casual mention in passing.

However, given the number of people expected to show up to the event (10,000-250,000), I think that they are doing a decent job of PR, and they should be able to get the attention of more than just the local news cameras.

Okay, I need to read more often. From Scaled's site:

"Q: Is there any plan for live media coverage of the flight?
A: CNN is planning on broadcasting live coverage."

Given a start time of 8:30 CDT, I might call in sick that morning, or just throw a tape in the VCR. Still no access to cable at work.

"You mention the DC-X. Are there any other vehicles (at least publicly-known) that have done boosted hops like this?"

ISAS RVT. http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Ahobbyspace.com+rvt

congratz to Widget People ! :P

BTW, John responds to occassional questions on X-Prize boards:
http://www.xprize.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?t=396

Sweet!!

Thanks, Mike & Kert. Exactly what I interested in.

Buck Rodgers, call your office!!

This is seriously just so fucking cool. The invisible peroxide exhaust does give it a completely old-school sci-fi movie feel (b&w early 20th century stuff). AWESOME!!

I hope JEP lives to see the first private flight to orbit, it's a shame RAH didn't!