...is here. Two movies of flights, including a minor prang.

W00t! fresh batch of Armadillo droppings ..
seriously, ive been waiting to see the big one lift into air for like couple of months, but they manage to catch like completely random problems ...
I wonder if the vehicle will ever feel really sufficiently safe to go anywhere significant ..

I don't know, but I do get a real kick out of the "Wright Brothers" backyard style construction. There are a lot of ways for rockets to go wrong, even the big ones still do. Prangs are pretty much expected during testing. If they don't make it, it will be because of insufficient money and resources, not because of problems during tests.

> If they don't make it, it will be because of insufficient money and resources, not because of problems during tests.

Given that John Carmack (of id Software and Doom Fame) is leading the team, I'd say that insufficient money would be the least of their problems. It sounds like various government regulations (H202 vendors, launch licenses, etc.) are the major obstacle. Plus the fact that they seem to be doing this in their spare time...

-S

Stephen - the problem with peroxide supply isn't the government, it's that the vendors won't deal with them. That's in part due to liability so there is a way to blame it on the government but it's a little bit of a stretch. I think that the peroxide issue has delayed them by about six months, perhaps nine.

I'm a big fan of Armadillo, despite the fact that they constantly break stuff. They break stuff because they are testing, and testing is the only sure way to learn how to build stuff which won't break.

The fun part for me is that they TELL YOU about the stuff they break. Most would keep that under wraps, they wouldn't be saying "Oh we broke this, so now we'll rip that out, adjust the software thus-and-so ..."

As far as money goes, NASA could spend every dollar Carmack has in one day, before lunch. Granted, they're good at that, but this stuff costs money, and will take more if they turn it into a commercial venture.

Still, for years there has been the idea that rising wealth and technology would eventually increase to the point that private space travel would no longer be out of reach. This is exactly the process you would expect for that - wealthy people with an interest developing new launch vehicles. It would never be as simple as one day everyone suddenly being able to jump in a spacecraft.