As the 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge was winding down, I was able to sit down and talk with John Carmack of Armadillo Aerospace for several minutes. Below is the video from that interview, where Carmack discusses what happened with Pixel on Saturday, his plans for the future (which begin with tracking down and solving the engine problem that doomed Pixel’s Level 2 attempt), and his relief at winning Level 1 after two years of coming up short.

This weekend was a milestone not just for Armadillo Aerospace and the Lunar Lander Challenge but for one of the people behind the scenes, Ken Davidian. The former manager of NASA’s Centennial Challenges prize program, Ken is leaving his position leading commercial policy development in NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate for a similar position within the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation. I chatted briefly with Ken about his old and new jobs, and his thoughts about the Lunar Lander Challenge, earlier in the week at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight:

The X PRIZE Foundation issued a press release about the 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Saturday, highlighing Armadillo’s Level 1 victory, their attempt at Level 2, as well as TrueZer0’s Level 1 attempt.

Also, I’ve uploaded another set of photos to Flickr with the highlights of Saturday’s activities, including a look at launch pads used for the competition.

At the press conference yesterday after Armadillo won the Level 1 Lunar Lander Challenge, Peter Diamandis said that Armadillo would get the official $350,000 prize check at a ceremony in Washington, DC, at a date to be determined. However, as the activities today were winding down at the airport, after Armadillo scrubbed for the day, John Carmack did get a little memento:

Best to hang on to that check - I doubt that “Uncle Sam” signature is legit.

It appears that Pixel suffered enough damage that they will not be able to repair it in time to fly again today. Still waiting for official word, but all indications over the radio loop indicate that Armadillo will not try to fly again today. John Carmack said in a brief press conference that this problem was similar to what they had been seeing in recent testing, with the LOX valve opening quickly and the fuel valve slowly. This creates a very lean mixture that caused the nozzle to burn through. They have enough parts to fix the vehicle but decided that they want to step back and figure out what is causing the problem rather than rushing another attempt.

Peter Diamandis hinted that they may try to move up next year’s competition so that Armadillo and other teams don’t have to wait until next October to try again. “I feel like a game show host” when say that Armadillo is walking away with $350,000, for first prize in Level One. “And we hope you return next time to go for the million-dollar award.”

Below: an image of the Pixel engine nozzle that was damaged in this morning’s attempted flight.

Armadillo departed the staging area right on schedule at 7:30 am MDT with the Pixel vehicle. They will be flying at around 8:15-8:30 am to compete for the Level 2 of the Lunar Lander Challenge and its $1 million first prize. More updates as they’re available.

Update 8:30 am MDT: Pixel ignited its engine but appears to have tipped over on its side; perhaps a hard start. Armadillo team is working to depressurize and detank the vehicle.

Update 8:40 am MDT: The morning attempt has been scrubbed. Fuel valve did not open, but LOX valve did, damaging the engine. They have a spare engine and plan to replace it and fly again later today. Below: Armadillo’s crane truck in position after the aborted launch.

I’ve created a Flickr set of images from yesterday’s activities at the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. The picture above, though, probably best represents the mood of people here at the end of the day yesterday when Armadillo Aerospace won the $350,000 first prize for Level 1. They’ll be back at it again today, using Pixel (a veteran of the 2006 LLC) to try and win Level 2. Look for updates throughout the day here and on Twitter.

Armadillo Aerospace has officially won the Level 1 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. The check will actually be awarded in Washington DC at a future date TBD (hopefully two checks, John Carmack said.) The focus for Armadillo now will be Level 2 with their Pixel vehicle. they will have up to three opportunities to win the prize tomorrow, since the midday slot will not be needed by TrueZer0.

More pictures and (hopefully) videos to come tonight.

Armadillo completed a sucecssful return flight this afternoon, remaining in the air about 95 seconds before landing safely. All they need to do at this point is to return the vehicle to the staging area in time to claim the prize, and right now that doesn’t appear to be a problem. There are a lot of very happy people here at Las Cruces right now.

After the TrueZer0 post-mortem this afternoon, the X Prize Foundation announced a judging ruling that positively affected Armadillo’s chances of winning the Level 1 prize. The judges ruled that since Armadillo’s effort this morning was stopped not because they had run out of competition time but instead because of the closure of the FAA airspace window, Armadillo can pick up where they left off this afternoon once the airspace window reopens. This means that they only need to make one successful hop this afternoon to win the prize, provided they do so and return the vehicle to the starting line before the remainder of their time this morning runs out. This certainly makes it easier for them: they only need to make one flight, not two, this afternoon and first prize for Level 1 is theirs.