Neil Milburn just showed video of a flight to about a mile in altitude, with deployable legs. I think they have a little too much compliance in them, though. It did a cute little bounce after what looked like a slightly hard landing. Talking about a “tube” vehicle, fifteen-inch diameter, that will be useful for testing out avionics. It’s interesting to see that both Masten and Armadillo’s new vehicles have aeroshells.
11 thoughts on “Armadillo”
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Why do I find it funny that nobody that reads this blog thinks the title refers to an ant eater? Yes, I am that weird.
Thanks Ken, I was checking into their diet as I never really thought of armadillos as anteaters, but sure enough. While checking I ran across this photo of one of the 20 species…
Pink Fairy Armadillo
Not exactly what the folks at Armadillo need as a logo.
Deployably legs? I distinctly recall Carmack saying “deployable” was a dirty word. Of course he was speaking of parachutes at the time, but landing systems are landing systems.
What a cutie. I’m sure he could be a monster movie star. They just have to pretend he’s 70 feet long instead of seven inches.
Are they still planning the gold fish bowl tourist design? I see them having a lunar lander somewhere down the line.
I’m still waiting for Aardvarkian Orbital Airlines. Aardvarkia uber alles!
im a bit worried about the distance from the nozel to the ground on impact when the landing stuff bounces
Keep up the good work, Armadillo! And my best to Neil.
@Bennett: I’d say anything would be an improvement.
It’s interesting to see that both Masten and Armadillo’s new vehicles have aeroshells.
I just saw this on Armadillo’s website:
So there you go.
Maybe it is a guy thing but when I show my friends youtube clips from Armadillo the reaction is always “F’n Awesome”
I was a little concerned about softness in the landing gear too, but I asked Ben Brockert about it on the AA forum and he said that it had passed drop-tests to their satisfaction.
I think that both AA and MSS are using aeroshells because they started with the same spherical propellant tanks. If cylindrical tanks had been more readily available in 2006, they might not have gone down that path.