ROCKET racing is proving to be rather slow off the mark. A US company called the Rocket Racing League originally planned to start racing rocket planes as early as 2007 but now, besides slower-than-expected technical development, the league has suffered another setback. It has lost its lease on land at its intended headquarters in New Mexico.
The Las Cruces city council terminated the league鈥檚 lease on planned hangar space at the city鈥檚 airport. The league had failed to build any hangars, which was required by the terms of the lease. says that the cancellation is regrettable: 鈥淭here was no animosity between Rocket Racing League and the city of Las Cruces.鈥�
鈥淭hey may have got ahead of themselves with the real estate deals,鈥� says Charles Lurio, of private-space-industry monitor . , chief operations officer of the league, says that instead of building hangars, the league needed to focus on developing its standardised rockets and making sure that races will be safe and entertaining. 鈥淲e are making good progress on the building blocks,鈥� he says.
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The company is now searching for a new permanent HQ. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not sure where we鈥檒l end up,鈥� says D鈥橝ngelo. The ultimate aim is to have portable infrastructure so that races can be held at many locations across the US. D鈥橝ngelo says that the league now hopes to stage exhibition flights in early 2010, with full racing in 2011.