Armadillo Aerospace reach orbit!

On March 31st, 2012, Armadillo Aerospace launched its new rocket Stigbee into orbit from Spaceport America. The first stage landed safely in the Gulf of Mexico, while the second stage is currently orbiting Earth in a 180km, 37° inclination orbit.

The Rocket

Stigbee is a mostly new rocket, with a first stage consisting of seven Stiga-type modules, and a new second stage that is basically a scaled-up version of Stiga with an extended nozzle optimized for vacuum operation. We have now automated a large part of the production process, so that we will be able to manufacture more modules at a rate of about one per week.

Stigbee's first stage accelerated the rocket to 160 km altitude and a speed of about 2500 m/s. First stage engine cut-off occurred after 230s, after which stage separation was initiated. Telemetry indicated a failed initial attempt, but thanks to an automatic retry the stages separated successfully a few seconds later. The second stage was then ignited and further accelerated into orbit. The first stage coasted further out over the Gulf of Mexico for an additional 30s, and then successfully deployed its ballute. It descended under ballute to an altitude of 15 km, at which point the ballute was jettisoned and the Wamore Air Guidance Unit (AGU) parachute deployed. The Wamore system steered the vehicle to a predetermined set of GPS coordinates. At an altitude of 500m, the parachute was jettisoned and four of the first stage engines were reignited for a powered landing on the helipad of a Gulf oil rig owned by Texaco, and made available to Armadillo Aerospace for this mission.