In rocketry, the
Armadillo Aerospace Quad vehicle called Pixel is a computer-controlled
VTVL
Vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) is a form of takeoff and landing for rockets. Multiple VTVL craft have flown. The most widely known and commercially successful VTVL rocket is SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage.
VTVL technologies were deve ...
rocket that was used in 2006 to compete in the
Lunar Lander Challenge.
General description
The quad vehicle design is a
pressure fed
The pressure-fed engine is a class of rocket engine designs. A separate gas supply, usually helium, pressurizes the propellant tanks to force fuel and oxidizer to the combustion chamber. To maintain adequate flow, the tank pressures must exceed th ...
in blow-down mode from an initial pressure of 320 psi for level 1 (400 psi level 2). The
cold gas vernier engine
A vernier thruster is a rocket engine used on a spacecraft for fine adjustments to the Orientation (geometry) , attitude or velocity of a spacecraft. Depending on the design of a craft's maneuvering and stability systems, it may simply be a sma ...
s are cross-fed by gas drawn from
ullage
Ullage or headspace is the unfilled space in a container, particularly with a liquid.
Etymology
The word ''ullage'' comes from the Latin word ''oculus'', used by the Romans to refer to a barrel cork hole. This word was, in turn, taken in medieva ...
space of the opposite tank. The vehicle was able to transfer propellant through connecting pipes between opposite tanks by controlling ullage pressures with the thrusters; this helps it balance, minimizing gas use. The main engine had two-axis thrust vectoring. The vehicle was fully computer controlled; with guidance from GPS and
fiber optic gyros.
Specification
The specification for Pixel/Texel for level 1:
* Width: ~1.9 m (~75 inches)
* Height: ~1.9 m (~75 inches)
* Dry Weight: 650 pounds
* Gross Lift Off Weight (GLOW): ~1500 pounds (360 pounds
ethanol
Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a h ...
, ~500
LOX)
* Payload: 55 pounds
* Engines: 1 (+ 4 cold gas
attitude jets)
* Thrust (sl): ~3000 pounds
Engine (XPC-06):
* Thrust: ~3000 pounds (throttleable to 25%)
* Chamber Pressure: 300 psi
* Nozzle Area Ratio: 2:1
* Isp (sl): ~140-~200 seconds (low-high throttle)
* Length: 0.51 m (20 inches)
* Diameter: 0.2 m (8 inches)
* Chamber: carbon fiber reinforced graphite built by Cesaroni aerospace
* Burn Time: >100 seconds, expected >180 for level 2, with approximately double the propellant mass.
Purchase by NASA
On 8 March 2010, Matthew Ross of Armadillo Aerospace confirmed that Pixel had been converted to methane/LOX propellant and sold to
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
as part of the
Project M
''Project M'' is a mod of the 2008 fighting game '' Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' for the Wii, created by the community group known as the Project M Development Team (PMDT; previously known as the Project M Back Room). It is designed to retool ' ...
testbed for the
Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) LIDAR
Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...
range finding system under development by
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
See also
*
Reusable Vehicle Testing program of the Japanese Space Agency
JAXA
The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...
*
Project Morpheus NASA program to continue developing ALHAT and Quad landers
*
Blue Origin New Shepard
*
Kankoh-maru
*
McDonnell Douglas DC-X
The DC-X, short for Delta Clipper or Delta Clipper Experimental, was an uncrewed prototype of a reusable single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle built by McDonnell Douglas in conjunction with the United States Department of Defense's Strategic ...
*
Zarya
*
CORONA
*
Grasshopper
References
{{reflist
Reusable launch systems
Rockets and missiles
Pressure-fed rockets
VTVL rockets