AFRL La Luz rocket team heading back to nationals Published April 26, 2016 By Bud Cordova Nucleus writer KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Qualification for nationals in the Team America Rocketry Challenge no easy feat. However, a team of eighth-graders at the Air Force Research Laboratory's La Luz Academy at Kirtland Air Force Base has done it -- twice. "I feel really lucky to be with these groups of kids," said team mentor Jacob Grosek. "They design and build the rocket themselves. I make sure they stay safe and on their time schedule." Team members are Laken Baca, Josh Cordova, Jacob Dalton and Jared Trujillo. This is the second year in a row the team mentored by Grosek is going to nationals. This year, the competition is scheduled for May 14. On May 13 the competing teams will have "breakfast on the Hill." During the breakfast, students will get to meet Congressional representatives. Grosek said TARC is a very difficult challenge. First, a model rocket built by hand has to fly to a height of 850 feet. As if that's not hard enough, the entire process, from launch to peak to landing, has to take 44-46 seconds. The payload of two raw eggs must be intact after the landing. If one is broken, the team gets an automatic disqualification. For every foot over or under 850 feet, students accrue a penalty point. Every second outside of the time window costs four penalty points. Grosek learned to have the team spend lots of time designing and testing the rocket. Using a computerized program, RockSim, the team is able to test materials and motor sizes before even building the rocket. Once the design is complete the team purchase the material necessary for two rockets of the same design incase one gets broken. To qualify for nationals, each team gets three chances. The qualification days have to be announced before the launch. Then all the points are sent in and the top 100 teams are selected to compete in the nation competition in Washington, D.C.