Armadillo Aerospace

Armadillo Aerospace was a privately held aerospace startup founded in 2000 by John Carmack, co-founder of id Software, and based in Mesquite, Texas. The company developed reusable, rocket-powered vertical takeoff and landing vehicles aimed at suborbital spaceflight and space tourism. It won $350,000 in the Level 1 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge in 2008 and $500,000 in Level 2 in 2009, and received NASA funding through the Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research program. The company entered hibernation around 2013 and ceased operations, with its technology later pursued by successor company Exos Aerospace.