*The following is archival content from 2003, hosted on the original X PRIZE website, to maintain authenticity.

Propulsion: Hydrogen Peroxide monopropellant Ship Name: Black Armadillo Team Leader: John Carmack Location: Vertical from ground Launch: Vertical from land Landing: Parachute with crushable nose cone Website: www.armadilloaerospace.com Team Overview

Quote from John Carmack

"The X PRIZE is stimulating the re-examination of a premise that has gone almost unchallenged for decades - that 'rocket science' can only be undertaken by governments and corporations with billions of dollars at their disposal. It doesn't have to be that way, because we have advantages at our disposal today that no government on earth had at the beginning of the space age - the amazing advances in electronics, computerized manufacturing processes, in-place space assets like GPS and satellite data systems, and, of course, several decades of hindsight. I expect people to remain skeptical, but an existence proof will change the conversation completely."

Flight Sequence

As testing on vehicle systems progresses, the design of the Black Armadillo is gradually maturing. The current design is a single stage vehicle with nontraditional operating features. The Black Armadillo's propulsion system consists of four pressure fed, hydrogen peroxide, monopropellant system rocket engines fed from a single tank. The propellant tank has a capacity for 1,600 gallons (6,055 liters) of hydrogen peroxide. The exhaust of a hydrogen peroxide propulsion system is environment-friendly (superheated steam and gaseous oxygen).

The flight profile of the Black Armadillo starts out in a familiar fashion, but shortly after reaching the peak altitude of 107 km (67 miles), it operates in a manner which can only be described as "ground breaking." Orientation of passengers in the cabin has not been finalized. Initial acceleration of the Black Armadillo is 2 Gs, dropping off as speeds increase, and then rising again towards the end of the engine burnout. There is a much longer than typical burn because the rocket engines are used to stabilize the vehicle during ascent. The engines will burn for approximately 145 seconds, at which time the vehicle will be traveling at a speed of almost 2,300 miles per hour and will be at an altitude of almost 35 miles.

After reaching apogee, the passengers continue to experience micro-gravity conditions as the vehicle begins its ballistic descent back to Earth. Once the density of the atmosphere starts to increase, the aerodynamic drag on the vehicle begins to increase and the passengers begin feeling Gforces again. After it has descended to an altitude where the air density is great enough, a small drogue chute will be deployed from the base of the vehicle to insure proper reentry, which will briefly deliver an estimated five Gs of deceleration.

At approximately nine minutes into the flight and when the vehicle descends through an altitude of 1.9 miles (3 km), the main chute will be deployed. Sufficient time is given to deploy a backup chute if necessary. Approximately six minutes later, the vehicle will make contact with the ground at approximately 25 feet per second. The crushable, aluminum nose cone neatly and systematically collapses into itself, decelerating the vehicle to a stop. The capsule then falls on its side to end the mission.