GET READY TO LAUNCH!

Applications are now available for the 2009 Team America Rocketry Challenge! Participation is limited to the first 750 teams who register by Monday, December 1. This year's challenge is to design, build and fly a one-stage model rocket that reaches an altitude of 750 feet, stays aloft for 45 seconds, and returns 1 raw egg unbroken. The egg must be placed in the rocket perpendicular to the direction of flight! Download the Handbook and Rules documents and get started on your rocket now!

RocketBlog!

The official blog of the Team America Rocketry Challenge. Keep an eye here for updates and info during the countdown to TARC '09!

TARC Team in the News!
Posted: 11.03.08
Posted by: Audrey Koehler

The Phoenix

By Amy Hoelzle, The Suburbanite, Mon Nov 03, 2008, 10:05 AM EST

Springfield/Lakemore -
If a red rocket landed in your back yard last year, it could have been from the Springfield High School rocket team's first launch ever.

The SHS rocket team has now begun year two of competition for the Team America Rocketry Challenge's National Championship in The Plains, Virginia.  Last year, the first year Springfield had ever been in competition, the team placed 55th in the nation and third in Ohio.  

And how are they doing this year?

They're expanding.  Two members of the charter team, Joe Honeck and Emma Tidwell, will be graduating in June.  In the hope of keeping rocketry alive at SHS, they're passing their knowledge and love of the club on to underclassmen.  New members for Springfield's B team include junior, Chrisitina Jindra; sophomore, Cody Hershey; and freshmen Anthony Yeater and Tim Reynolds.  Added to team A is Cody Kyser, a senior. 

The rockets that the team builds aren't just models glued together from the hobby store.

Tremendous thought, time and funds are put into these sophisticated rockets.  The team meets every Tuesday to build, and they usually launch on Fridays.  Specific sizes and costs are factored into the making of these rockets.  Tubes and nose cones cost around $60, re-loadable F and G motors cost an average of $20 a launch, and an altimeter costs around $75.

The altimeter is intricately placed into the rocket to measure the altitude the rocket reaches in flight, and an egg is delicately bundled with bubble wrap in hopes the shell will land intact.  A computer software program, Space Cad, helps the team predict flight results and parts needed, in order to defray costs.  A quarter of an inch difference in length can create hundreds of feet difference in flight.  The team also must take into account wind speed and the angle of the launch.    

The team has been successful only because of the persistence of its members and the support of its mentors.  The school pays for registration into TARC, but on their own, the team has raised roughly $700 by selling candy bars.  Ada Honeck, a rocket mom, also runs a concession stand at baseball games.

Marazita Graphics donates rocket design labels, and this year, because of their success at TARC, National Machine is sponsoring the team.  Biology teacher Toni Miller leads the rocket team and generously donates her time to stay after school for meetings.  She also orders parts and picks up "nuts and bolts" from Home Depot.  Mark Hanna, vice president of First Merit Bank, serves as team mentor and, in his spare time, advises the team and offers suggestions--not too many suggestions, however, or else the team will be disqualified.  With Hanna's witness and signature, Springfield's launch results can be sent to TARC.  

TARC requires all rockets to go 750 feet in the air with a flight duration of 45 seconds.  A single egg, horizontally placed in the rocket, must remain intact. This is more challenging than a vertically placed egg because the width of the rocket tube must be wider and there is more pressure on the end points of the egg; hence, more chance for breakage.  At this year's finals competition on May 16, first place winners will receive an all expense paid trip to Paris, France, to compete at the Paris Air Show.  The top 10 teams will split $60,000 in prizes.  

Last year on an oddly blustery afternoon, the Springfield Rocket Team launched their first rocket ever, never to be seen again.  Since then, thanks to Marazita Graphics all models include the high school's address and phone number. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  Just this week, a good Samaritan dropped off the original rocket at the high school office, saying, "There's some expensive parts in there.  That one [altimeter] had to be $30."  One egg was found intact.