Local students qualify for national American Rocketry Challenge
A team of 6 students from area middle and high schools as well as the homeschool community have qualified for one of the biggest student rocketry competitions globally
A team of 6 students from area middle and high schools as well as the homeschool community have qualified for one of the biggest student rocketry competitions globally
A team of 6 students from area middle and high schools as well as the homeschool community have qualified for one of the biggest student rocketry competitions globally
A team of six area students ranging in age have shot for the stars and qualified for the national American Rocketry Challenge. It's the largest student rocketry contest globally and serves as the flagship program for the aerospace and defense industry, promoting STEM.
The team of six is students from Saint Xavier High School, William Mason High School, Walnut Hills High School, and the local homeschool community. They go by the name "Team Bang" and have competed against more than 900 teams from across the country to land amongst the top 100 to qualify for nationals.
According to Sam Theil, a senior on the team, for this rocketry competition, they are given certain criteria to meet and can lose points if they miss these criteria.
"Our two targets are 800 and 850 feet, and then have it come back down all within a certain amount of time while protecting a raw egg," said Sam Theil.
These rockets aren't your typical bottle rockets, either. Team Blast has developed an autonomous air brake and parachute system that will help them stand out from their competition.
"We try to overshoot the altitude, and then we increase the drag of the rocket by deploying these air brakes, and that that kind of uses the math to figure out where it needs to be and hit the right attitude," said Theil.
While they wait for nationals to arrive, the team continues to test and improve their rocket for competitions. And while some failures are sure to come around, the team says they're staying positive and using these failures to learn and improve as they move to compete against the top 100 teams across the country.
"It's exciting, but it's also scary. I mean, it's a lot of pressure as well to do really well. And it also gives us the motivation to improve on our designs and work towards our goal of potentially going to internationals," said Srikar Koduru, Senior at William Mason HS.
The national American Rocketry Challenge will take place on May 18th at The Planes, Virginia. Teams that finish in the top 10 will win part of the $100,000 cash prize, and first place will represent the United States in the International Rocketry Challenge, held at the Farnborough Airshow in London in July.