Overview
A team of 5 high school students will compete in the Team America Rocketry Challenge as they design, build, and fly a rocket carrying three raw eggs in a capsule to an altitude of 856 feet and return it to ground with the eggs intact within 43-46 seconds. Mark Miller, the instructor for this project, has more than 20 years of model rocketry experience. He will guide students in aerodynamics and physics concepts, and teach them to execute their design.
Participating in one of our projects is like joining a sports team. Instructors lead small teams through immersive and ambitious projects. The teammates work closely with each other and with their coach as they learn the skills necessary to solve the problems they've been given. Whether it's building a quadcopter from scratch, launching balloons into space, building/racing/crashing/fixing nitro RC cars, competing in national rocketry challenges, or building giant flip books, there's a lot to be learned in order to be successful, and there's always room for creativity.
Schedule
This is a 40 hour project that takes place over 8 weeks, meeting twice a week, from February 6th to March 27th.
We'll spend eight straight weeks designing, testing, and flying our rockets. We'll launch at least 25 flights, three of which will serve as our qualifying flights for the TARC contest. If our scores are high enough, we'll be invited to the finals in northern Virginia in May.
The team meets twice a week:
Wednesdays: 7 - 9:00pm
Sundays: 1 - 4:00pm
Once the rocket is built, the team will travel to Sweet Briar College on Sundays to launch.
Curriculum
If we're going to build a rocket, there are a few things we'll need to learn. We usually spend the first 20-30 minutes of our meetings covering these topics before we get our hands dirty.
- Aerodynamics: thrust, drag, impulse
- Motors: fuel, combustion
- Ignition and Ignition systems
- Predictions: Using OpenRocket software to predict flight paths
- Recovery: parachutes and other unconventional methods
The rockets we launch must be made by us, not from a kit. As a team we will determine the best methods for building a successful rocket, then apply the resources of Vector Space to bring it to life. Whether it's 3D printing nose cones, laser cutting fins, sewing parachutes, or turning transition sections, it'll be an experience you won't forget.
Eligibility
Participants must be currently enrolled in grades 8-12 (homeschool included) to compete.
Scholarships are available for those seeking financial assistance. Apply here.
Attendance is important, and we ask that all participants not miss more than one class throughout the project.
