USA: Innovators of personal spaceflight launch the concept of competitive rocket racing

Record ID: 688905

  • Title: USA: Innovators of personal spaceflight launch the concept of competitive rocket racing
  • Date: 5th October 2005
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 03, 2005) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) PATRICIA SMITH, ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, SAYING: "The Rocket Racing League is a atmospheric showcase for the kind of rocket technology that will evolve in time from spectator sport to citizen sub-orbital space flight." NEWS CONFERENCE AND PILOT S
  • Embargoed: 20th October 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAEPP44L1HTFY2AEWU2KUYVD0P4
  • Story Text: A group of private rocketeers have come together to create a futuristic, "Rocket Racing League" (RRL), that will combine competitive racing with human spaceflight, thus hoping to bring the space experience closer to the general public.
    The concept was launched officially at The Yale Club at New York City, on Monday (October 3). The vision of the league is to have rocket races operate much like auto races, except that in this case, the planes, called the X-Racers, will compete at a height of about 5,000 feet, along courses expected to be approximately two miles long.
    Chairman and Founder of the Rocket Racing League, Dr. Peter H. Diamandis is also the person behind the the $10 million X Prize, a suborbital competition for private piloted spacecraft. Speaking about the X-Racer rockets and referring to them as a way of bringing space flight closer to the general public, Diamandis said, "Rocket racing is actually bringing these vehicles (X-Racers) to the public where they can touch, feel, participate, fly in the simulations and hopefully, eventually fly in one of these vehicles themselves. It's bringing twenty-first century into people's personal living rooms. What is rocket racing? It's really the mix of NASCAR excitement and space flight."
    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is supportive of the RRL, even as the latter is working to secure all the necessary licenses and permits to actually hold the races.
    Associate Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Patricia Smith said, "The Rocket Racing League is a atmospheric showcase for the kind of rocket technology that will evolve in time from spectator sport to citizen sub-orbital space flight."
    At the center of the races will be the customizable X-Racer planes, based on the EZ-Rocket design developed by the Mojave, California based XCOR Aerospace.
    Colonel Rick Searfoss (Retd.), former commander of the space shuttle Columbia and three-time astronaut, is the Chief Pilot of the RRL, and will fly the EZ-Rocket, the X-Racer prototype, in its inaugural launch on October 9 at the X Prize Cup in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
    Searfoss spoke about the aspects of the X-Racer that make it ideal for high-powered rocket racing. He said, "Something that's very, very important, crucial for the rocket racing is the ability to turn off and re-light these rocket engines. That is not a very common thing in rocket engine technology world but we have that capability. It works great with the EZ-Rocket."
    At the initial races, it is expected that at least four X-Racer planes will compete, each equipped with a single 1,800-pound thrust engine fueled by liquid oxygen and kerosene. Searfoss explained that the fuel mix will have an approximate burn time of about four minutes, so the pilots will need to repeatedly shut down their engines to glide, restarting as needed.
    As part of the RRL's effort to use hi-end technology to bring the races closer to the public, enthusiasts at home will be able to see a three-dimensional course, including the "tracks" pilots are following. Special effects for lap completions, barrier violations and penalties will be part of the show. Fans will also be able to track pilots' progress via hand-held GPS tracking devices using WiFi to stream video of the cockpit, live on-track shots, side by side views and wing angle views.
    A video game based on the RRL will launch in late 2007.
    While Diamandis and his team of rocketeers expect the thrill of rocket-racing to be a big draw for the general public, they also insist that such an exercise has an important role to play in the larger scheme of space exploration.
    Diamandis said, "NASA is a big supporter of these things, be cause they know that private industry has to bring the innovations around to allow them to go explore the planets more efficiently. So, the technologies coming out of the X-Prize, the X-Prize cup and Rocket Racing League will allow for cheaper, safer, more efficient rockets that will allow NASA to fly their astronauts, you know, to the moon and Mars."
    The first RRL race between the X-Racers, which Diamandis likes to refer to as the "fire-breathing dragons", is slated for October 2006.
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