Local students built a rocket that’s taking them to a national competition, maybe London
Inside Cascade Middle School’s STEM lab, a group of students are cutting, sanding and gluing parts of a rocket.
This isn’t the typical after school rocket club. The Space Lizards, as they call themselves, are some of the best rocketeers in the country.
They and 100 other school teams are competing May 14 in the national finals of the The American Rocketry Challenge ( TARC) held in The Plains, Virginia, near Washington D.C.
They are the only middle school team in Washington state to make it to the finals.
It’s more than just prestige on the line for the young engineers. The teams are competing for $100,000 in prizes. The top winning team gets $20,000 and an all-expense paid trip to London for the international finals.
More than 4,000 students on 720 teams from 41 states submitted scores in the preliminary competition.
The requirements are simple but challenging to meet: Design, build and launch a rocket that carries two raw eggs to an altitude of 835 feet with a target flight duration of 41 — 44 seconds. The eggs have to return to Earth without a crack.
Fin repair
As the school’s baseball team was gearing up for practice outside, Mason Coates, Dawson Delaney, Jordan Englert and Liam Jones, also known as launch supervisor, payload specialist, recovery specialist and launch engineer respectively, were working on two new rockets they’ll take to Washington D.C.
They are advised by mechatronics and robotics instructor, Marc Deaver.
The team was building redesigned rockets this week because the fins cracked on their previous pair of rockets.
“Liam, you’re doing the glue on the inside of the tubes, right?,” Deaver asks. “And we’re making sure that the shot cord is not in alignment with any of the slots, correct.? Okay, make sure you rotate as necessary. I’m trusting you guys. You can do this.”
The cracked fins are just one of many problems the students have solved on their way to TARC.
“The biggest thing that they’re learning is problem solving skills,” Deaver said. “They’re learning how to get past all these little hurdles that come up.”
The students use STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education to design, build and solve problems with the rockets. When flames burned through the rockets’ parachute cord, they came up with a fire retardant sheath.
“I think it’s great when they come up with an idea that I haven’t thought of,” Deaver said.
Rocket rules
Melinda Mai is the flight data specialist. It’s a critical role for qualifying for the competition.
Inside the 43-inch-tall rocket is a tiny altimeter that records the highest altitude the rocket reaches. The 835-foot target altitude is stipulated by TARC. The higher or lower the rocket reaches reduces their chances of making the finals.
Melinda times the rocket from the moment it leaves the launch pad to the point of touchdown. Landing too early or too late hurts a team’s score.
Melinda, an eighth grader, joined the club because, “I had nothing else to do after school.”
Now, she’s headed to Washington D.C. and just maybe, London. The rockets satisfy a creative need for her.
“I always wanted to build something, like engineering,” she said.
Melinda, and the others on the team, use a computer program, Open Rocket Simulator, to design the rockets. The program allows them to make changes in the design and then run it through simulated flight.
Test Flights
The flight that qualified their team for the competition sent a rocket to 832 feet, just three feet shy of their target. It stayed aloft for 42 seconds, within the target range.
Like rockets that actually go into space carrying people and satellites, the rockets headed to TARC don’t vary much from team to team. But some aspects do.
“There’s a wild variation of fins,” Deaver said. “We put cants in our fins, which is a little bit of a tilt.”
The canted fins cause the rockets to spin like a bullet from a gun. The spinning helps the rockets fly straight.
The team also attaches something to the fins that increases or decreases drag to help it reach its targeted altitude and time. Deaver keeps the devices a secret.
8th grade ignition specialist
Due to SpaceX’s regular launches to the International Space Station and a planned mission to the moon, space technology is frequently on view .
C.J. Baxter, an eighth grader, isn’t sure he wants to be the next Elon Musk, but he’s inspired by the billionaire’s space company.
“With things like SpaceX, and all those kinds of things, I think rocketry is much more popular now,” C.J. said.
C.J. is the team’s ignition specialist. He’s responsible for the rocket’s engine and the ejection charge that separates the nose cone from the main body at a specified time.
Launches are carefully planned and studied. Each one requires a new $25 solid fuel engine with adjustable ejection charge.
At first, failure was an option for the team, but no longer.
“We learned from those (mistakes) and we decided we should change what we do,” C.J. said. “And now we get it right almost every time.”
C.J. said the school’s 3D printers and laser cutters make a difference when it comes to building rockets.
“And then we also have Mr. Deaver’s expertise to teach us how to do those things,” he said.
Competition
The school learned it had qualified for the nationals in early April.
“We made an announcement over the intercom when we found out and the school got pretty excited,” Deaver said.
Tacoma’s Annie Wright Schools is also sending a high school level team to the competition.
In Virginia, each team gets one flight before the field is narrowed down to the top 42.
The competition’s specific requirements demand require a team that can adjust to changing conditions on game day.
“The trick is dialing in your rocket to fly consistently in all weather conditions,” Deaver said.
Variables like wind can cause an adjustment of the launch angle. Temperature changes can affect mass and weight changes may need to be made on the fly.
When the new rockets are finished they’ll be test flown. The Space Lizards say they’ll be ready come May 14 even though they’re up against a group of mostly high schools.
“I’m just really excited to be in that top 100,” C.J. said. “I don’t think that our chances are very high. But things can go wrong with the other rockets. Or we could do really, really good. So anything could happen.”
In 2016, TARC was won by a team from Odle Middle School in Bellevue.