RUNNING HEADER: ROCKET CONTEST

Team America Rocketry Challenge

Progress Report
By Sidney Boakye and Amy Nguyen
11/29/2016
Objectives:
To design and construct a rocket which can travel 755 meters upwards in 42 seconds

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Materials and Methods

In the past two weeks we have undergone a complete overhaul of our original project
idea. We hit major design errors in our previous project and felt that it would absorb too much
additional time to develop the multiple solutions needed. The problem we faced was how we
were going to harness the energy from the plexiglass rod after it was charged. There was really
no feasible way to go about it and this led to our decision of totally scrapping the project and
undertaking a new one. Another but less compelling reason was that we were able to answer
some of the questions we had proposed to answer with project even without doing the project.
For example, one of our questions was Which system would produce the most energy producing hydroelectric energy and changing it into mechanical energy or using electricity from
a battery to produce the mechanical energy? It was obvious to us, knowing that energy is never
completely transferred through conversion, that the process with the least conversions would
produce more power.
Based on the above, we made a decision to rather enter the Team America Rocketry
Challenge (TARC). The Team America Rocketry Challenge is a competition where teams of
students from 6th-12th grade build a rocket that will fly to the optimal scoring parameters of
TARC. The rocket must pass height and diameter requirements, carry an egg as a payload, and
all parts of the launched rocket must return back to Earth safely. To obtain the highest possible
score a rocket must fly to the target height of 775 feet (236 meters) in 41 to 43 seconds. Then the
rocket must return back to the ground safely, without any harm done to the egg.

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We understand they have a short amount of time to develop this new project as such we
have taken the necessary steps and will continue to do so to ensure we meet the deadlines for
both the competition and their Governors School Mentorship Course. We have already
compiled and refined our materials list and will send out our order form before this weekend. We
have completed our research into the project and just have to obtain the materials needed to
begin construction. Our intention is to put in the extra effort and fast track as much as possible.
In the next two weeks, we plan to obtain our materials and begin the construction of our
project. Our goal is to have about 75% of construction completed by the time we submit the next
progress report. We intend to start flying our model rocket during the December, weather
permitting.
Materials

Balsa wood (Fins)

Plastic nose cone or balsa wood nose cone depends on preference. Needs to be sized
to the size of the body tube.
Model Rocket Motor (Grade depending on weight of the rocket)
Electric Igniter
Launch Pad
Parachute
Cardboard wrapped in sulfane
Paper body tube
Fins can be either swept back or elliptical shaped
Fins can either be made of balsa wood, basswood, or plywood
-Balsa Wood is very lightweight and easy to work with but needs thicker balsa
wood than other fins
-Bass Wood and Plywood are about the same user friendliness and are heavier.
Haloid sections
Paloid Section is the same diameter as the body tube and has to be sealed tightly
Connection section between the payload section and recovery system. Connect into
balsa wood.
Another Paloid can be egg capsule
Put foam into the egg capsule to hold egg
Use bubble wrap and plastic insulation from pipes to pad the paloid
Compartments from an egg carton

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Altimeter
Elastic material (sharkor), kevlar cord to use motor and ejection because kevlar cord is
heat resistant. Need elastic to make kevlar more elastic
Cloth parachute is heavier in weight. Plastic is lighter in weight but wont be good for
heavier rockets
Streamer
Art Crede paper
Launch lob. Attaches rocket to launch pad. Made out of cardboard. Easy to install. Make
sure that they are aligned. May need more than one.
Engine mounts specifically to a rocket motor that is basically smaller than the diameter of
the rocket. Fills up the gap.

Method:
Using our knowledge of Aerodynamics, Calculus, Physics, and a Computer Simulation
system we will test out multiple variations and situations in order to better get an idea of how our
rocket will perform under flight conditions. We will then construct our rocket to emulate the
plan we put in place for our flight tests. Once we run through the trials of our flight test we will
collect the data and analyze it to see how we can improve our design. We will then take the
necessary steps to improve our design and do more test flights until we are satisfied with out
results. At this point, we will correct any errors discovered and proceed to the finals flights
which will be used for our final presentation.

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Data/Results:
As of yet we still do not have data, but we do plan on having data one month from now.

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References

A. (2016). TARC 2016 Video. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZZMcnH-WA8&t=7s

A. (2008). Rocketry How-to Part 1: How Model Rockets Work. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYh1pWHoQXE&t=2s

A. (2008). Rocketry How-to Part 2:Components for a Rocket. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kAkitKKKlA

A. (2008). Rocketry How-to Part 3: Construction Techniques and Supplies. Retrieved

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxQ7vGgXx5Y

A. (2008). Rocketry How-to Part 4: Finishing the Rocket's Fins. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS021hCT3LU

A. (2015). Team America Rocketry Challenge. Retrieved from

http://rocketcontest.org/

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