LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Its official. The Rocket RacingLeague announced today that its first Mark-1 X-Racer will be known as the Thunderhawk.
The RocketRacing League (RRL) is an aerospace entertainment organization which combinesthe competition of racing with the excitement of rocketry.
[For moredetail on the League's endeavors, read here.]
The fansubmitting the winning name is Michael Higgins of New Market, Maryland. He's an engineer and managerworking in the composite pressure vessel industry serving life-support andaerospace/defense applications.
"Theaircraft, with its rocket propulsion, combines thunderous sound with brilliantflame and light. So I worked up several names focused on thunder andlight, and tried to connect those with a bird of prey," he explained.
Higginssaid he expected the RRL races will put rocket propulsion technology in frontof thousands of people through thrilling events.
"Theyshould generate public interest in rockets and space, much like the famous airraces of the 1920s and 1930s did during the golden era of aviation," Higginssaid.
The contestbegan January 30 and attracted over 2,000 submissions. The top 1,000 names werewhittled down to ten semi-finalists by a panel of RRL judges. Fans then were ableto vote for their favorite name from the top ten on AOL.
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