EL DORADO HILLS, California USA — The very first Mavericks International Space Competition, scheduled to be held this weekend on the Black Rock Desert outside of Gerlach, Nevada has been cancelled due to inclement weather.  The event has been postponed until July of 2008.

Slated to be held October 18th through the 21st, 2007, the Mavericks 2007 International Civilian Space Competition, in partnership with Draper Fisher Jurvertson, the Stanford Space Systems Development Laboratory, and the Tripoli Rocketry Association was to consist of three categories: a sounding rocket competition, a CubeSat remote sensing competition and a planetary rover competition.

However, nature wasn't as cooperative. With winds over the playa floor above 25,000 feet running at 130 knots per hour, the launch competition has been wisely scrubbed. Rain, high winds and Black Rock's unique mud have made the desert floor an unusable mess. 

This year's sounding rocket competition was scheduled to award a $10,000 cash purse to the winner of the Mavericks Draper Fisher Jurvertson J-Prize 30K competition class. This competition is intended for teams building and flying a reusable vehicle capable of delivering a standardized payload to a target altitude within the lower troposphere repeatedly with a minimum turn-around time and a minimum of vehicle rework or part replacement between flights.  The mission is to deliver a standard 6” ID by 18” long payload of no more than 2 Kg to 32,000 feet AGL as many times as possible in one flight day, with a single flight vehicle replacing less than 10% of the vehicle (in dry weight) between flights.

More information about the various Mavericks competition events can be found on their website at http://www.rocketmavericks.com/.

10-18-2007 02:44 PM  #1
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1819	Quote: The mission is to deliver a standard 6” ID by 18” long payload of no more than 2 Kg to 32,000 feet AGL as many times as possible in one flight day, with a single flight vehicle replacing less than 10% of the vehicle (in dry weight) between flights. I think this is a typo and that it should say that the payload must be a standard 6" OD by 18" long.

10-18-2007 02:57 PM  #2
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 2541	That's straight off their website, so if it's a typo, it's their's.

10-19-2007 10:19 AM  #3
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2367	I figure a good sized "O" could do it. Still, thats a lot of propellant to burn in one day. Course 10K would buy a lot of APCP.

10-19-2007 10:55 AM  #4
jsdemar NAR/TRA L3   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 321	Quote: I think this is a typo and that it should say that the payload must be a standard 6" OD by 18" long. No, I believe it's 6" ID. So that the standard payload carrier will fit inside.

10-19-2007 11:49 AM  #5
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1819	Quote: No, I believe it's 6" ID. So that the standard payload carrier will fit inside. The article talks about the payload (not the payload bay). Having an ID for a payload bay makes sense. Having an ID for a payload doesn't. The payload is what is being carried on or in the payload carrier. The payload bay is a section of the body tube or nosecone that receives or encloses the payload carrier and its payload.

10-19-2007 02:10 PM  #6
jsdemar NAR/TRA L3   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 321	Quote: The article talks about the payload (not the payload bay). Having an ID for a payload bay makes sense. Having an ID for a payload doesn't. The payload is what is being carried on or in the payload carrier. The payload bay is a section of the body tube or nosecone that receives or encloses the payload carrier and its payload. Hey, you're right. This wouldn't be the first time there was a grammatical error or otherwise on the Rocket Mavs site.

10-19-2007 03:12 PM  #7
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1819	Quote: This wouldn't be the first time there was a grammatical error or otherwise on the Rocket Mavs site. Or any other. I'm just being too darned picky. Sorry.

10-19-2007 06:55 PM  #8
jsdemar NAR/TRA L3   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 321	Quote: Or any other. I'm just being too darned picky. Sorry. Well, the original announcement for the Rocket Mavs site had some whoppers. Troj cut and pasted it in an ROL news item as-is.