Rocketry Planet

FREDRICKSBURG, Texas USA — Brett Williams is leading a charge to re-establish the United States as a leader in science, math and engineering, by lighting a spark in America's youth through a rocketry-based education program called SystemGo Aeroscience and Ignite Education.

Williams started in 1996, reaching out to students of Fredricksburg High School with the Redbird Rocket Program.  Their first year, they sent a rocket up one mile, carrying a one pound payload.  Since then, they've broken the sound barrier and aimed for 100,000 feet in the air. Their next project is a 500 pound behemoth that will soar to the edge of space, carrying a payload onboard from graduate students of Stanford University.

The program was turned into a model for other high schools in the state of Texas, and dozens now participate in their annual launch event.  Fredricksburg's program is so sophisticated that the U.S. Air Force is involved, launching their biggest rocket from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. 

"This past week we supported the testing of 18 free-flight vehicles for a dozen schools across Texas," Williams said in an online communication.  "All experienced stable flight and all were on target to accomplish their project design goals."  Williams was contacting supporters to make them aware of a segment on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams called "Making a Difference" that was shown Friday evening, May 2nd.

All of the propulsion systems used in the testings were hybrids, and has been one of the pet projects of Anthony Cesaroni of Cesaroni Technology Incorporated, a major supplier of hobby rocketry propulsion systems.  "It’s one of the academic projects we helped support with our HyperTek product," Cesaroni said. "The students and faculties are really pumped."

These leaders of tomorrow's America realize that the answer is today's youth, and are leveraging that raw resource to help position the United States to once again take charge of its destiny and regain their lead in the science and engineering world.

Website: http://www.igniteeducation.org/