A New Mexico Community Was a Place to Build a Life. Then a Hypersonic Missile Factory Showed Up
Source: Wired ·
Castelion—a next-generation defense tech company—is building a facility in Rio Rancho Estates that documents show could pose a major fire and chemical hazard to neighboring communities.
From the source
Sally Schultz thought she had struck gold when she purchased land in Rio Rancho Estates, an unincorporated, census-designated community just outside the city of Rio Rancho, New Mexico. A single mother of four, Schultz came there following a divorce to build a homestead of her own and finally gain some stability in her life. For $3,500, she was able to purchase half an acre for her trailer in a rural area located close to numerous elementary schools and parks. In a relatively short time, she was able to coax crops like corn, squash, and green chile from the ground. This cheap land became Schultz’s haven, giving her a second chance at life. Then a missile company showed up next door. “We’ve already been through so much,” she says, “and now we have to leave. It is the unknowing that is scariest.” Castelion, a startup founded in November 2022 by three former SpaceX executives, is building Project Ranger, which it claims will be America’s “largest dedicated hypersonic manufacturing…