Armadillo Aerospace was an aerospace startup based in Mesquite, Texas, founded by John Carmack, co-founder and former chief technical officer of id Software. Its initial goal was to build a crewed suborbital spacecraft for space tourism, with longer term ambitions of orbital spaceflight. The company won 350,000 dollars in the Level 1 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge on October 24, 2008, and 500,000 dollars in Level 2 of the same challenge on September 12, 2009, and in 2010 it signed an exclusive deal with Space Adventures to provide a suborbital rocket for space tourists. In August 2013 founder John Carmack announced the company had entered hibernation mode following the crash of its STIG-B rocket that January, and in May 2014 several former employees formed a new company, Exos Aerospace, to carry on the reusable spacecraft research.
Facts
Agency TypeAmerican private suborbital rocket and launch vehicle developer, self-funded and now dormant (assets sold in 2015) 1 Founded Year HeadquartersMesquite, Texas, United States 1 Annual BudgetApproximately US$1 million per year burn rate (2011-2013, self-funded by John Carmack) 1 In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Armadillo Aerospace
Wikimedia Foundation2013 Hibernation mode and sale of assets section, final paragraph
In 2015, the assets of Armadillo Aerospace were sold to EXOS Aerospace Systems & Technologies, Inc.
Infobox, founded field
founded = 2000
Lead paragraph, sentence 1
Armadillo Aerospace was an aerospace startup company based in Mesquite, Texas.
Lead paragraph, sentence 3
The company was founded by John Carmack, co-founder and former chief technical officer of id Software.
2013 Hibernation mode and sale of assets section
During those two years, Armadillo operated at an approximately US$1 million per year burn rate funded personally by Carmack.
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