If you thought the Pod Races in Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace were cool, then the proposed Rocket Racing League will probably be right up your alley. The BBC reports on this very unusual new “sport:”
Peter Diamandis, the man behind the $10m X-Prize for suborbital space travel, has brought forward his new initiative: the Rocket Racing League.
The RRL will see Grand Prix-style races between rocket planes, flown by top pilots through a “3D trackway” just 5,000ft (1,500m) above the ground.
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Dr Diamandis said the races would be run over aerial tracks that were about two miles (3.2km) long, one mile (1.6km) wide, and about 5,000ft high, running perpendicularly to spectators.The X-Racers will take off from a runway both in a staggered fashion and side by side, and fly a three-dimensional course with long straights, vertical ascents, and deep banks.
Each pilot will follow his or her own “virtual tunnel” of space with the aid of satellite-navigation technology, safely separated from their competitors by a minimum distance.
Spectators will be able to follow the races by looking at the exhaust plumes in the sky and on hand-held GPS tracking devices.
This sounds way cool, but I’ll believe it when I see it…
