Joey Seiler on January 23, 2008 2:11 PM
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Based on the design of X-prize winning SpaceShipOne, Virgin Galactic's newly unveiled SpaceShipTwo and carrier airplane WhiteKnightTwo are bigger, better, and generally more awesome.
WhiteKnightTwo, the largest carbon composite aircraft in the world, is sporting four Pratt and Whitney PW308A engines, which Virging Galactic cites as "amongst the most powerful, economic and efficient engines available." They can boost the mothership to a high enough altitude to launch SpaceShipTwo, carrying eight astronauts, into suborbital space.
That's it. My day is done. I simply can't top WhiteKnightTwo--unless, that is, we turned it into DarkestKnightInExistenceThree.
Continue reading 'Virgin Galactic unveils new spacecraft; Richard Branson wants me to quit' >
Ted Alvarez on October 29, 2007 3:21 PM
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New Mexico was once again the site of interstellar shenanigans (I'm looking at you, Roswell) as the X Prize Cup rocket expo ended with Armadillo Aerospace's entry into the 2007 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge exploding in spectacular fashion.
In a last-ditch attempt to win the prize, Armadillo took the engine out of another, more powerful rocket called Pixel – which it had planned to fly in the more difficult level 2 challenge – and used it as a replacement for Module 1's cracked engine.
But the engine exploded in a fireball at launch, producing a bang that was audible from more than a kilometre away. Armadillo declared an emergency and fire trucks rushed to the scene, but the fire quickly burned itself out without any intervention or injuries.
Nine teams entered, but only Armadillo Aerospace was actually prepared to compete in time to win the prize. Armadillo was founded by John Carmack, creator of iD Software and the games Doom and Quake.
Continue reading 'X Prize ends with no winners, explosions' >
