Kotaku Australia » armadillo aerospace

John Carmack Plans Space Fishbowl

Stuart Houghton — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:20:00 +0000

Lord British may have reached for the stars – and given us a cryptic message in space runes – but to do so he had to splurge millions of his hard earned Gold and train for months with Russian cosmonauts. If another Gaming Legend has his way, however, taking in the view from orbit might become a little easier – if slightly crazier looking.

John Carmack’s Armadillo Aerospace is investing in what it calls the “Fishbowl Spaceship” – an orbital bubble designed to let space tourists roll around in freefall like.. well, goldfish. Space goldfish.

Yes, it does look crazy and is probably designed purely to distract from Carmack’s real goal of building a portal to hell in the caverns of Mars. Armadillo hopes to have a prototype in orbit by the end of next year, with manned flights in 2010 at a low, low price of $US100,000.

Fishbowl Spaceship to give tourists a breathtaking 360-degree view [Dvice.com]

Carmack Good At Coding, Making Rockets Explode

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:20:52 +0000

Longtime id programmer and technical director John Carmack is good at many, many things—writing and rewriting 3D game engines, typing up .plan files that read like moonspeak, and nearly being successful at simulating lunar landings. Unfortunately, Carmack and his team at Armadillo Aerospace are also quite proficient at blowing up aircraft on the landing pad, throwing them out of competition in the recent Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. While the team was successful in getting its modular class rocket off the ground, an engine explosion ultimately kept them grounded.

Don’t worry, no one was hurt, including Carmack. He’ll still be able to put his typing skills to good use for id’s upcoming Rage. You can read all about the harrowing, explosive experience at the official X PRIZE site.

Armadillo Aerospace Nearly Wins Northrop Grumman [X-Prize Foundation]