Editing Armadillo Aerospace (section)

===Wirefly X-Prize Cup 2007===
Armadillo Aerospace competed in the 2007 Lunar Lander Challenge event in the [[Wirefly X-Prize Cup#2007 Wirefly X Prize Cup|Wirefly X-Prize Cup 2007]].

====Testing====
During testing one of the two Quad vehicles (named Texel) crashed on a tethered flight after a guidance problem caused the vehicle to rapidly gain altitude until 3 separate flight termination procedures were activated at approximately 20–30 feet. The vehicle fell, and the impact broke open one of the alcohol tanks and a large fireball engulfed the vehicle.<ref>[http://media.armadilloaerospace.com/2007_09_04/texelCrash.mpg Texel crash video] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928172125/http://media.armadilloaerospace.com/2007_09_04/texelCrash.mpg |date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref> The vehicle was irreparably damaged, and only its sister Pixel could compete in the upcoming event. The plan was to have the first module (of the next generation modular design) compete at level 1, and have Pixel compete at level 2 challenge.
<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home/News?news_id=349 |title=News Archive: Texel crash, Pixel back-to-back 180, Module 105|date=September 4, 2007|website=armadilloaerospace.com|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070928171801/http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home/News?news_id=349 |archive-date=September 28, 2007}}</ref>

====Competition====
In the level 1 events, Armadillo's craft MOD (actually, module #1) logged several attempts, including several successful first leg flights but was unable to complete the return trip during any attempt.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

On its first attempt, a clogged igniter orifice prevented ignition. On the second attempt, the first leg flight was perfect; increased guidance and control capabilities allowed the module to, in Carmack's words, 'burn the X-mark off the target pad'. The return leg was delayed slightly, because the igniter had clogged again. When the second leg was attempted, a 'hard start' cracked the graphite combustion chamber. As the vehicle was still flying, Carmack flew the crippled vehicle through the course as quickly as possible and hovered 2–3 meters above the landing pad. With only a few seconds remaining in the required flight time, the damaged combustion chamber cracked again, which caused the vehicle to tilt enough to trigger a computer abort. The vehicle performed an auto-land, but the tilt caused the module to tip over on landing after only 82 seconds in the air.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

The second attempt began with another perfect first leg, but the return was marred by another hard start. Seeing that the engine was badly damaged (although flying), the team commanded an abort. The module landed back on the pad after only a few seconds.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

On the final attempt, MOD suffered a violent "hard start", resulting in engine explosion. The violence of the explosion embedded a piece of the graphite chamber in the ground 64 meters from the launch pad and ended their attempts in 2007 for the prize.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home/News?news_id=350 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217053026/http://armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home/News?news_id=350 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-12-17 |title=Armadillo Aerospace News Archive |first=John |last=Carmack }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.livescience.com/blogs/2007/10/28/armadillo-setback-as-vehicle-flames-out/| title=Armadillo Setback As Vehicle Flames Out| first=Leonard| last=David| publisher=livescience.com| date=October 28, 2007}}</ref>