The desert landscape of New Mexico’s Spaceport America is a perfect setting for testing rockets. In fact, the father of American rocketry, Robert Goddard, found the area ideal for his trial testing of hardware.
Armadillo Aerospace of Rockwall, Texas is now test flying its vehicles from the spaceport.
Under NASA’s Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research program, the entrepreneurial firm recently flew its SuperMod rocket, dubbed Dalek.
While things didn’t go quite as expected, valuable lessons were learned – and Armadillo plans to return to Spaceport America for future flights of its vehicles.
Take a look at the flight of Dalek’s on June 11, a video shot by Jared Ortega, a student intern of the New Mexico Spaceport. The recovery system on this rocket was a novel one for Armadillo, a guided parafoil system.
Go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W15u-JSV4NY&feature=related
For an onboard ride, watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS7C5OVLTBA&feature=related
NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program has combined the Facilitated Access to the Space environment for Technology (FAST) and Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research (CRuSR).
Intention of the NASA program is to provide frequent flight opportunities for technology payloads to fly on both parabolic aircraft and suborbital reusable launch vehicles that are capable of flying to altitudes above 100 kilometers.
Working with groups such as Armadillo, NASA is keen on fostering the commercial suborbital reusable transportation industry.
By Leonard David