Launching Dreams: My Rocketry Journey

A few days ago, my rocketry team and I headed out to 60 Acres Park in King County, Washington. It marked our final launch day for the qualifying launches for the American Rocketry Challenge. The typical Seattle clouds dotted the sky, with occasional glimpses of the sun and minimal wind, providing ideal conditions for launching our rockets without any hitches. With each countdown — 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 — we eagerly watched as our rockets soared into the sky, leaving behind trails of smoke accompanied by a distinct whooshing sound. As each rocket reached its apex, we collectively held our breath, hoping for a successful flight and landing. Upon opening the nose cone and checking the altimeter post-parachute deployment, we were astonished by the readings: 841 feet with a flight duration of 44.3 seconds.

[embed]

The Start

When I joined the rocketry club at my high school, I didn’t know what to expect. I was just there because a few of my friends from middle school had joined it, and I wanted to try something new. Little did I know that launching rockets would become such a complex yet super fun and competitive hobby. At Tesla STEM High School, our rocketry club participates in TARC, The American Rocketry Challenge, which is the world’s largest rocket contest, with nearly 5,000 students nationwide competing each year. High school students can design, construct, and launch model rockets as part of the competition, which also provides them with practical experience in problem-solving engineering.

[embed]The American Rocketry Challenge | World's Largest Student Rocket Contest The American Rocketry Challenge is the world's largest rocket contest with nearly 5,000 students nationwide competing…rocketcontest.org

Teams that qualify for the American Rocketry Challenge National Finals have the chance to win cash prizes. This is what really got me hooked, and it was the fact that you could go to nationals just if your team got a max height of around 820 feet and your rocket came down with an uncracked egg in 45 seconds.

After all the planning and registration, we reached the purchasing stage. Here, we had to meticulously choose the materials and components for our rocket to ensure it met the competition standards. Being fairly new to model rockets, our team initially made several errors in purchasing the wrong parts. Yet, with some guidance and research, we managed to rectify these mistakes, refining our design before the test launch.

Starting to Test

However, we did make two big catastrophic errors in what components we bought. We bought a really powerful F50T-6 Aerotech motor and a really big 36 cm parachute, and our first test launch went a whopping 1200 feet in the air. The top body tube that held the egg tore off from the rest of the rocket when the parachute went up. As it came crashing down, the parachute kept floating away so far that we couldn’t even retrieve it. This was our first big mistake that we learned from and made sure to avoid in future launches. Despite the setback, we were able to salvage the project and make improvements for a successful launch next time.

Our first Motor with a max thrust of 79.6 Newtons.

[embed]TEST 1 FOR TARC THIS WENT 1200 feet way too high we didn't realize it at first but it was a DQyoutube.com

The Final Launches

Then the date approached for the final qualification launch, which consisted of three separate launches that would all be compiled together for a final score. We persevered through many struggles in this launch, including trying to get our egg out of the top tube and making sure we had an altimeter. But yet , despite the challenges, our team managed to successfully complete all three launches and achieve a high final score.

Launch 1: 848 feet in 45 seconds

Launch 2: 841 feet in 44 seconds

Launch 3: 857 feet in 39 seconds

The competition only takes the best two of our three launches, and for time, we were on the dot. However, for height, we were about 20 feet off. But most teams that get this kind of score go to nationals, and that got us pretty excited.

[embed]TARC Qualification Launch 1 848 feet45 secondsyoutube.com

[embed]

The fact that a first-timer who barely knew anything about rockets could achieve such results was truly impressive. We were proud of our hard work and dedication, which paid off in the end. This experience taught me the importance of teamwork, adaptability, and persistence in the face of adversity in rocketry projects. The sense of accomplishment and camaraderie we felt were truly rewarding.

Thank you for reading!