Students launch model rockets with AFRL, CAP

  • Published
  • By Eva Blaylock
  • Air Force Research Laboratory
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  For many middle school students, the idea of being able to work with scientists and launch a rocket is thrilling ... and often unattainable.

With help from the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Civil Air Patrol, two Albuquerque middle schools are at rocket-launch phase within the Starbase 2.0 program at the AFRL La Luz Academy.

Van Buren Middle School and Wilson Middle School are participating in the after-school program with the Civil Air Patrol and the New Mexico Starbase La Luz. CAP provides the support infrastructure, including a school-affiliated facilitator, classroom space and access to computers.

Starbase La Luz provides the mentors and hands-on science, technology, engineering and mathematics activities for students.

The students are learning model rocketry - alongside mentors like Capt. Greg Moran, and 1st Lt. Adekunbi Adewunmi, AFRL engineers, who help and encourage them while teaching that science is fun. Kirtland AFB scientists and engineers participate in engaging students - the potential future AFRL scientists and engineers. Those participating in the enriching AFRL La Luz Academy, AFRL's K-12 educational outreach pipeline get to see the inside track of a laboratory and military/government environment - where students see how scientists work in a modern lab.

This year, students worked to design and build rockets to compete in the Team America Rocketry Challenge, in hopes of winning a chance to compete in the national "flyoff" May 1. The competition requires the rocket to weigh less than 650 grams and carry an egg payload to an altitude of 750 feet. The payload must safely land within a 48-50 second period and the egg had to be intact.

For this year's TARC competition, the students needed to qualify their rocket by March 25 for the national flyoff. The launches for the Starbase 2.0 students took place at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Park and Shooting Range Park on Feb. 5, March 5 and March 19.

During the fall semester, students worked with their mentors to build and launch three different model rocket kits. They also learned how to use modeling and simulation software, called RockSim, to predict how high the rockets would go. After gaining a basic understanding of model rocketry by building and launching the rocket kits, students then created original rocket designs, using RockSim software, which would meet the TARC competition requirements. They finalized their designs in December and built their original rocket designs in January.

"Each of the launch days provided unique learning opportunities for the students as they applied the engineering design process to evaluate what worked and what didn't work about their rocket designs," said Ronda Cole, director of the AFRL La Luz Academy. "We want students to understand that designing and building a system that meets certain specifications -- like the TARC model rockets they built -- requires research, planning, testing and modification.

"There were some snags during the launches, as parachutes failed to deploy or rocket designs didn't perform as anticipated. However, as the students learned to fix things 'on the fly' and recovered their rockets, you could feel the sense of accomplishment they experienced because of participating in this activity. My hope is that these students will have more confidence in their abilities to succeed at whatever they set their minds to in the future."