ARLINGTON, Virginia USA — Students around the country are testing altimeters and trimming tail fins in anticipation of qualifying for the final round of the Sixth Annual Team America Rocketry Challenge in May.

A total of 643 middle and high school teams from 43 states and the District of Columbia have registered for the world's largest rocket contest and are designing and building their vehicles by hand. The contest, aimed at increasing interest in math and science and promoting aerospace careers among young people, will involve approximately 7,000 students from start to finish.

The 3- to 15-member teams registered for the contest in November and have until April 7 to successfully launch their model rockets and achieve a score qualifying them for the final competition. This year's challenge is to build and fly a model rocket that reaches 750 feet while remaining aloft for 45 seconds, returning the payload of two raw eggs to the ground unbroken.

The students are vying for a total of $60,000 in scholarships and prizes. Lockheed Martin provides $5,000 scholarships to each of the top three teams, and Raytheon sponsors the winning team's trip to the Farnborough International Airshow in July. NASA invites some the top teams to participate in their Student Launch Initiative, an advanced rocketry program.

The top 100 teams will convene Saturday, May 17, for the national finals at the Great Meadow in The Plains, Virginia. The public is invited to watch the competition.

AIA is sponsoring the contest along with the National Association of Rocketry partnered with NASA, the Defense Department, the American Association of Physics Teachers and 36 AIA member companies. For more information on the contest visit the Web site at www.rocketcontest.org.

Founded in 1919, the Aerospace Industries Association represents the nation's leading manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military, and business aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, space systems, aircraft engines, materiel, and related components, equipment services, and information technology.

Matt Grimison of the Aerospace Industries Association +1-703-358-1076, cell: +1-571-217-0881, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

02-12-2008 10:22 AM  #1
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2368	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest While I very much admire the event and the intentions behind it, I still find the scoring odd. I don't believe any commercial maker of altimeters would guarantee the accuracy implied by the scoring of the event. Even with painstaking calibration on site, there just isn't sufficient accuracy to say a flight that recorded 750' was any closer to the actual mark then one that recorded 755'. What I would propose is scoring 740 to 760 or what have you as full points. Subsequent rounds would require hitting different targets in both duration and altitude. This would reduce the luck factor, and teach the students a lot in the process of designing a rocket for multiple mission profiles. Maybe I'm just nit picking here, but looking at how close last year results were, you may as well have drawn straws among the top finalists IIRC.

02-12-2008 10:33 AM  #2
TWRackers New Member   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 7	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest Check the rules at http://www.aia-aerospace.org/tarc/pdf/2008_rules.pdf. Note especially section 12: the 18 teams with the best scores after their first flight will get a chance to do a second flight, and the scores from both flights will be summed to pick the top ten teams. This change from the previous contests' rules was implemented specifically to reduce the "luck" factor.

02-12-2008 10:41 AM  #3
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2368	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest I did--I think its an improvement, but still does not eliminate the luck in the altimetry nor does it provide a real test of mettle which might be to predesignate the finals as anywhere between say 900 and 1200' and duration between 60 and 90 seconds. Then at the draw from a hat, the targets are announced and students have 2 hours to make the mods--something along these lines, just thinking on the fly here.

02-12-2008 10:54 AM  #4
UncleVanya   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 1893	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest Quote: I did--I think its an improvement, but still does not eliminate the luck in the altimetry nor does it provide a real test of mettle which might be to predesignate the finals as anywhere between say 900 and 1200' and duration between 60 and 90 seconds. Then at the draw from a hat, the targets are announced and students have 2 hours to make the mods--something along these lines, just thinking on the fly here. Perhaps a second class of competitors - former Tarc winners could compete in an event like this during the main competition.

02-12-2008 10:57 AM  #5
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2368	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest That would be interesting as well--maybe the point was obscure--this would be for the finalists only, the primary qualifying and competition in round 1 would stick to the 750/45 targets. Then using the same rocket, they could swap motors, add or remove ballast and adjust chute sizing. Heck this would be a good NAR event.

02-12-2008 11:07 AM  #6
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1819	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest Quote: I did--I think its an improvement, but still does not eliminate the luck in the altimetry nor does it provide a real test of mettle which might be to predesignate the finals as anywhere between say 900 and 1200' and duration between 60 and 90 seconds. Then at the draw from a hat, the targets are announced and students have 2 hours to make the mods--something along these lines, just thinking on the fly here. These teams are flying the same altimeter(s) they have flown all year. It doesn't matter if the altimeter is correct or not, as long as it is repeatable, and IIRC NAR tested manufacturer samples for that. The challenge, once the kids get to nationals, is to adapt their model rocket to the elevation and atmospheric conditions of the flying field there. That affects each team differently, although teams from Colorado and Montana probably have a very similar challenge compared to each other, coming from 5,000 feet and dry air to a humid 500 feet MSL.

02-12-2008 11:23 AM  #7
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2368	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest Steve, Agreed, but the whole question even using the same altimeter, is that the sensor/compensation circuitry/and A/D conversion is of insufficient accuracy to merit the scoring as is. Unless someone tells me differently, the same altimeter flown three times with readings of 745 or 755 or 750 is insufficiently accurate to say which came closest to 750 irrespective of atmospheric conditions that day. Hence the "luck" factor.

02-12-2008 11:34 AM  #8
Just Jerry Freeform rockets advocate   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 727	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest Quote: Steve, Agreed, but the whole question even using the same altimeter, is that the sensor/compensation circuitry/and A/D conversion is of insufficient accuracy to merit the scoring as is. Unless someone tells me differently, the same altimeter flown three times with readings of 745 or 755 or 750 is insufficiently accurate to say which came closest to 750 irrespective of atmospheric conditions that day. Hence the "luck" factor. It is important to remember winning is only one goal. Participation, teamwork, travel, and comraderie are actually higher goals. The contest winner is as you say somewhat randomized by the altitude being so low that the error is a large percentage of the value. But remember that has been an element of NAR altitude contests since the beginning of time (1958). Altitudes measured using theodolites are +-10% accuracy. Hot tracks are the typical decider of winners in those events. Just Jerry NAR contests host for a decade

02-12-2008 11:40 AM  #9
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2368	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest Agree with you Jerry, its one goal among many and as I said, I'm keenly in support of the event. But there are some big $$ on the line, and if you really want to separate the goats from the sheep, in the fairest way possible, there may be better ways. I'm gonna let it rest as I appear to be in the distinct minority here.

02-12-2008 12:15 PM  #10
H_rocket Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 325	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest Keep in mind that the "winners" are also invited to participate in the SLI program. Then the real rocket geekery comes into play DenverDoc - your ideas are great, consider sending them to Trip Barber. I agree that there is a bit too much "luck" in this. However, we have to keep in mind that this is a one day event with a hundred teams. Trying to adapt to a more stringent standard might be tactically impossible given the time frame. BTW, I have gone as a range crew volunteer the past two years and am going again this year. It is truly a fantastic experience.

02-12-2008 01:02 PM  #11
TWRackers New Member   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 7	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest Quote: BTW, I have gone as a range crew volunteer the past two years and am going again this year. It is truly a fantastic experience. In that case, I'll see you there, this will be the second year for myself and my wife to be on the ground crew.

02-12-2008 02:14 PM  #12
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2368	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest Way to go guys, I'd love to see them do this out in the wild west sometime, (homefield advantage and all ) It sounds like a great way to give back.

02-14-2008 07:55 AM  #13
agrippo Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 75	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest Quote: Hot tracks are the typical decider of winners in those events. Jerry, What are "Hot tracks"? Andrew

02-17-2008 02:35 PM  #14
landru Certified Level Two   Joined: Apr 2007 Posts: 46	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest The altitude and timing "accuracy" is mostly a moot point. Random environmental factors have more to do with winning than anything. A gust of wind at takeoff, or odd thermal on decent is much more of an issue. So in essence the competition winner is moderately random. The best you can do is get in the ballpark and hope mother nature is pleased with you today. ~Andrew Diehl, TARC finalist '05

02-17-2008 03:53 PM  #15
Just Jerry Freeform rockets advocate   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 727	Re: Students, sponsors gear up for world’s largest rocket contest Quote: Jerry, What are "Hot tracks"? Andrew When you look at error rates vs track angles, there is a tendency for the error to be less considered nearer one end of the angle range. So if you fly your rocket "near the baseline" you can get lucky with the guy observing the rocket to error on the high side AND have the other angle be near the baseline thus juicing the altitude due to quirks of the math trig used. I used to be able to explain it better but I am old and fat now I think Trip Barber actually wrote a paper on it, and Gary Crowell did several suggested alternative calculation methods, which were published in California Rocketry magazine. People who employ flying over the baseline as a strategy also risk getting a "cold track". So it is not typically employed. Also it is not within the "spirit of the rules". Just Jerry