May 10, 2014
Team One from Creekview High School of Canton, GA wins the 2014 Team America Rocketry Challenge. Over 700 teams from across the country participated in the Challenge this year. From those 101 teams flew in the finals which were held Saturday in The Plains, Virginia.
The team receives a $10,500 prize, and a trip to the Farnborough International Airshow just outside of London, UK where they will compete in a flyoff with teams from UK, France, and Japan! Members of the team include Amanda Semler, 18; Andrew White, 16; Nick Dimos, 16; Austin Bralick, 16; and Bailey Robertson, 15.
Flight 1 scored just 6 off a perfect score of zero, and flight two was 8.88 for a total of 14.88 points, over three points better than the second place team. Creekview’s Team 3 scored 52.96 on their first flight and did not make the flyoff, which was shortened to one flight due to weather. More details later!
Apr 4, 2014
Two teams from Creekview High School in Canton, teams 1 and 3, have made the finals of the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) for 2014. They will be headed to The Plains, Virginia for the flyoff on May 10.
TARC is a co-production of the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), and has been running since Fall 2002.
Approximately 7,000 students from across the nation compete in TARC each year. Teams design, build and fly a model rocket that reaches a specific altitude and duration determined by a set of rules developed each year. This year the rules challenge each team to design and build a model rocket that can travel to a height of 825 feet and back within 48 to 50 seconds. Each rocket must also deploy two identical parachutes carrying precious cargo — two raw eggs that must return safely to the ground undamaged. Scores are determined by how close they come to the required height and time; damaged eggs disqualify the flight. TARC poses a different challenge each year, and 2014’s dual-parachute requirement combined with the tight timing window and other structural criteria make this contest the most difficult in the competition’s 12-year history. The contest is designed to encourage students to study math and science and pursue careers in aerospace.
The top 100 teams, based on local qualification flights, are invited to Washington, DC in May for the national finals. Prizes include $60,000 in cash and scholarships split between the top 10 finishers. NASA invites top teams to participate in their Student Launch Initiative, an advanced rocketry program. AIA member companies, such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have sponsored additional prizes such as scholarship money and a trip to an international air show.
Mar 23, 2014
Jeff Coons compiled the flight cards from March 22 and gives us this report: “A huge variety of rockets filled the skies at Hoschton on a blue sky March afternoon. Member turn-out was good as the warm air, welcoming skies, and not-as-gentle-as-we-would-have-liked winds were all generally favorable. Most remarkable were the number and variety of scratch built rockets. Of the 155 total flights we saw 34 interesting scratch-built creations.
We also had a broad variety of motors used throughout the day, ranging from 1/2A3-2T up to G77-4F. There were a total of 6 flights on G motors and a whopping 20 total flights on various F motors, 27 flights on E motors, and 28 D motors, 25 Cs, 26 Bs, and 26 A motors. We also saw a variety of stages with one flight boosting with 3 (B6-0 / B6-0 / A8-3) as well as a few clusters.
Also of note were the 23 first flights (winter projects coming out) a few cameras were used, rocket boost R/C glider, some E-powered and G-powered spools, cones, and saucers. Variety was indeed the theme of the day!
Feb 28, 2014
The smoke has cleared, the vendors have packed away their wares and the port-o-potties have been hauled away. This can only mean that the 2014 GRITS Winternationals launch has come to a close. The rainy weather attempted to grab the biggest headlines of the weekend but some monstrously huge flights on Saturday nipped Mother Nature in the bud. She would have her revenge, however, by moving in earlier than expected on Sunday to rain out the final day entirely.
Friday started out rainy as well but cleared up in time for us to get a few flights in starting around 3pm. The low ceiling kept the flights low, but that just meant we got to see the rockets better.
Saturday, however, was spectacular! Bright sunshine and high, thin cirrostratus clouds were the order of the day and everyone with a rocket were clamoring to get them on the pads. As well, a large crowd of local spectators showed up and it was estimated that as many as 300 people were on the field during the busiest part fo the day.
The big projects were unleashed shortly after noon including Burl Finkelstein’s “Big” V2. This 500lb. behemoth flew perfectly and all appeared well until the three large cargo parachutes opened. The stress of slowing down that much mass was apparently too much for the shock cord and the lower section of the rocket came crashing down to the ground. All told, we had 233 flights on Saturday. We hope to have a breakdown soon of the motors used but I believe it’s safe to say that about half of the flights were high power (H and above).
The field owner, and the local community, as well, was extremely happy with the launch and was eager to start talking about next year. Suffice to say that there WILL be a 2015 installment of the GRITS Winternationals!
Before we start plans for next year, however, SoAR and TARA would like to thank Doug Gaskins, the field owner, for allowing us the use of his property as well as Mark DiBois, our “man on the ground” there in Berrien County, for his tireless groundwork in helping make this launch successful. Also, we need to thank all the vendors that came to support the launch and who helped make sure we all had just the perfect motor or parachute or ignitor. Lastly, a HUGE THANK YOU to all the GRITS Board of Directors and SoAR / TARA members that contributed many hours to ensure the success of GRITS. We, quite literally, couldn’t have done it without you!
If you would like to provide feedback on the event, or if you have an interesting story that we can include in the magazine coverage, please send to: grits@gritslaunch.com
Feb 10, 2014
Due to weather, SoAR hasn’t had a launch of any type for nearly three months, so it was some relief that we finally had a good day for flying at the Mill Springs Academy this past Saturday. It wasn’t well attended, but plenty of rockets took to the air, and Kevin Boyd provides some photographic evidence here.
