Quad (rocket)

In rocketry, the Armadillo Aerospace Quad vehicle called Pixel is a computer-controlled VTVL rocket that was used in 2006 to compete in the Lunar Lander Challenge.^[1]

General description

The quad vehicle design is a

Specification

The specification for Pixel/Texel for level 1:^{[citation needed]}

• 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
  LOX
  )
• Payload: 55 pounds
• Engines: 1 (+ 4 cold gas
  attitude jets
  )
• Thrust (sl): ~3000 pounds

Engine (XPC-06):^{[citation needed]}

• 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

• Reusable Vehicle Testing program of the Japanese Space Agency JAXA
• Project Morpheus NASA program to continue developing ALHAT and Quad landers
• Blue Origin New Shepard
• Kankoh-maru
• McDonnell Douglas DC-X
• Zarya
• CORONA
• Grasshopper

References