10-02-2009, 08:59 PM
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Senior Member 
Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: East Central Florida
Posts: 6,080
|  Rocket Racing League ??
From the heart of Florida's Space Coast  http://www.floridatoday.com/article/...ove+to+airport October 2, 2009
Rocket racing league may move to airport
Fledgling operation envisions sky-high competitions
BY RICK NEALE
FLORIDA TODAY Like craftsmen fabricating a custom motorcycle, workers in a nondescript hangar are hand-building a futuristic rocket airplane for a blazing-fast, science fiction-inspired sport. By 2011, these craft may zoom at nearly 300 mph in the sky around invisible racetracks two miles long, one mile wide and a half-mile high, leaving roaring trails of fiery-orange flames in their wake. The fledgling Rocket Racing League is building a one-of-a-kind prototype aircraft at Sebastian Municipal Airport for a battery of high-performance test flights. These aerospace-entertainment entrepreneurs want to conduct televised races at spaceports across the country. And the league might move its headquarters from an Orlando suite to Brevard County. "We plan and hope to be able to relocate our operations to the Florida Space Coast this fall," said Joe Radosky, director of business development. "We are planning to build several rocket racers so we can have a racing league, kind of like NASCAR. We have six racing teams that have already signed up and paid deposits." The RRL was launched in 2005 by commercial space pioneer Peter Diamandis, who founded the company that flies millionaires aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station. League operations remain in the research and development stage. Diamandis even envisions a foray into interactive video gaming, so players can compete virtually against rocket racers in real time from their living rooms. Radosky said he prefers to move the RRL to Melbourne International Airport. Someday, he
hopes rocket racers powered by liquid oxygen and alcohol will zip across the skies above Kennedy Space Center. The move makes logistical sense: The RRL now owns Velocity Aircraft, the Sebastian aviation manufacturer that is building the "Rocket Racer Tail No. 2" experimental plane. Once engineers settle on a final prototype design, the Sebastian manufacturing firm will assemble 12 rocket planes for the league's debut, President Scott Baker said. League executives have met officials with Space Florida, Melbourne International Airport, the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast and Brevard Workforce about possible relocation. "The concept is an intriguing one that has tourism and vehicle-assembly implications," said Lynda Weatherman, Economic Development Commission president and CEO. "At the present time, Rocket Racing League remains a project in the very early stages, and we continue to research their needs for a competitive business location." Richard Ennis, Melbourne International Airport executive director, said the rocket league would be "a welcomed addition" to his facility. RRL officials are also eyeing about 10 other sites across the country, Chief Operating Officer Michael D'Angelo said. Key question: Where will rocket racers compete? Authorized venues remain unknown, said George Nield, Federal Aviation Administration associate administrator for commercial space transportation. Nield said he has been working with RRL officials for years, and he believes rocket racing will secure FAA approval. "Those will probably be regulated as experimental aircraft. The thrust level of those rockets is not very high. They're going to be very loud. They're going to look very impressive, with the long flame coming out the back," he said. "But the overall performance is like a sporty aircraft." He said he was unaware of any similar rocket-powered aviation sports organizations in the United States. Last week, technology teams from Israel, Maryland, Massachusetts and Texas met for five days at Sebastian Municipal Airport to tinker with heads-up displays. These images -- which depict boundaries of the virtual racetrack -- will be projected onto the helmet visors of pilots during competition. Radosky said the RRL will staff a booth this weekend during the Cocoa Beach Air Show. |
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