The X Prize Cup is winding down for the day, with no major other events planned for the afternoon. Carmack confirmed in a press gaggle a little while ago that they plan to fix Pixel tonight and fly it tomorrow for the Level 1 Lunar Lander Challenge; if they have to use Texel instead they would have to jump to Level 2 of the challenge according to the rules, which would be something of a leap. Exactly what and when they will fly tomorrow remains TBD.

I’ll be posting tonight some more about various other events that took place during the day today, along with some additional photos and videos.

John Carmack is on live explaining what happened with the flight. They initially had problems this morning with icing on their LOX lines, apparently because they were not able to store the vehicles overnight in a heated hangar. He says the flight went well up until landing, but hasn’t explained what exactly went wrong during the landing.

John Herrington, one of the Challenge judges, just explained that one of the legs on the vehicle was damaged on landing, causing a small fire. They will not fly the vehicle again today, but they may repair and fly it tomorrow, or else fly their other vehicle, Texel, tomorrow.

Update 2:15 pm MDT: Carmack was interviewed and provided more details about what happened. Apparently they landed a little faster than they planned and broke a shock absorber on one of the vehicle’s legs. That broke the leg, which in turned caused the engine thrust to burn some electronics in the vehicle. They are still planning to repair Pixel tonight and making some tweaks to the flight control software to avoid a hard landing like that in the future; they may cannibalize some parts, like a landing leg, from their other vehicle, Texel.

Armadillo completed the first of its two flights for Level One of the Lunar Lander Challenge at about 1:25 MDT. It appears to have been a success, but there are now reports that there was a fire of some kind after landing–whether on the vehicle or pad is unclear–and it seems unlikely they will make a second flight attempt today.

A few updates here at the X Prize Cup just after 1 pm MDT Friday:

• Apparently the window for Armadillo’s launch has been extended, although exactly when they will attempt their flight remains unknown;
• At least one team (from the Univ. of Michigan) has climbed the tether in the Space Elevator Games;
• The only major activity at the Cup in the last hour or so have been F-117 flybys and a flight by a Learjet simulating the course that a Rocket Racing League X-Racer would fly (with course graphics superimposed live on the video screens here. There was also a demonstration of Orion Propulsion’s rocket bike, but it fizzled somewhat.

It looks like there’s setting up for another Rocket Belt demo now.

Earlier in the morning they did a demo of the “Rocket Belt”: a rocket backpack that allows a man to fly–for 30 seconds. They the demo right in front of the media center:

Fairly entertaining, especially for the kids.

Shortly before Armadillo carted out their vehicle for their Lunar Lander Challenge attempt, Tripoli carried out another high-powered amateur launch:

This was one more powerful than the one earlier this morning, and its parachutes worked as well.

The 2.5-hour window for Armadillo Aerospace’s Lunar Lander Challenge Level 1 attempt started about 10 minutes ago when they crossed a white line on the tarmac at the airport. A few minutes later their vehicle, Pixel, was loaded onto a truck and headed for the competition site in the airport midfield.

Armadillo’s Lunar Lander Challenge launch has been delayed by technical issues: apparently there is some wireless interference disrupting their link to their vehicle. They’re planning to go later this morning; they have a 2.5-hour launch window that opens at 11 am MDT. One team member said they believe they have a 70% chance of winning the Level One challenge, and perhaps a 15% chance of winning Level Two. If Level One goes well,m as well as a qualifying test later in the day, they plan to try for Level Two tomorrow.

Here’s a brief video of the Tripoli launch earlier this morning:

We had our first flight event just after 8:15 am MDT, with the launch of a Goddard replica rocket by Tripoli. The launch looked great:

However, the rocket’s parachute failed to deploy and it crashed in a cloud of smoke.

Armadillo Aerospace is scheduled to fly in about an hour for level one of the Lunar Lander Challenge, according to latest reports.