Determining What Keeps Going Wrong...

The team captain, Jeremy, and his dad, team mentor, sat down and tried to figure out what was wrong with the launch on the 19th.  They came up with a few possibilities and shared them with the team at a brief meeting.

Possible issues:

1. The launch rod really isn't long enough to give our slow burning motor enough time to stabilize
2. The length of the rocket leads to more room for issues while in flight

The team discussed these issues and agreed to change the launch pad to accommodate a new launch rod and to cut about 2 inches off the rocket to made it more stable/compact. 

 Team Meeting

Since we are all out on Christmas break this is something we can do over the break.

Flight 2

We cannot seem to catch a break here, but we figured out what we think happened at the other launch.  We made sure everything fit better and nothing seemed to stick when assembling the rocket.

Getting things ready to go, we prep as much as possible at home because it is COLD outside.

Everyone is set in their assigned roles now so the launches (when they work) should go smoother.

Taping the parts after inserting the altimeter:

Setting up the rocket on the launch pad

We had some issues with the connections on the launch box this time, but we worked those out, turned out that the screws on the outside of the box were too tight and didn't allow for a good connection.  It is always something.

It took 6 tries to get the rocket off the launch pad.

Then it did this. 

We need to do some work figuring out what is going on with the rocket.  Luckily the recovered parts of the rocket weren't too bad this time.  Back to the drawing board.

Preliminary Design Review Time

Our mentor, Ms. Hernandez, scheduled a preliminary design review in front of a panel of experts to gauge our progress.  We've gotten together a few times to prep and get ready for the review.

Practicing our presentation

Updating our Engineering notebook

Presentation day

Overall we think we did well, there were some nerves and some things we definitely need to work on to improve our presentation and knowledge. 



Need to contact us?  teamsigmarockets@yahoo.com

Donations

https://www.gofundme.com/teamsigmatarc Please note, donations made to our GoFundMe account are not tax-deductible as they are considered a gift.  

Tax-deductible donations:

Please make a check payable to Albuquerque ACTSO with Team Sigma Rocketry in the memo. 

ACTSO
c/o NAACP
PO Box 1922
Albuquerque, NM 87103-1922

Flight 1 - The Enterprise

We got together early on a cold morning to launch our first TARC 2016 rocket.  We built the motor at home and got the ballast weighed and ready for the booster and headed out into the desert to launch. 

 Getting ready at home

Setting up the launch pad

 

Waiting in the cold (it was about 32 degrees)

Getting ready to launch

  

Team photo before the flight!

Inaugural flight of the Enterprise 
The flight (aka "That didn't go as planned")

 

The remains:

What happened?  The launch cables and the ignition wire got stuck.  Normally the ignition wire comes out at launch but today it didn't and the cables held on because the motor worked and pushed the rocket it had to go somewhere.  As you can see in the video the cables held on, the rocket went up and then when the launch cables were at the limit the rocket went 90 degrees and took off.   


What does this mean?  Well, luckily we built two rockets so we have another to use and test with.  What happened?  When we were putting the motor together the ignition wire was a tight fit and hard to get in the cap.  We even said that out loud but nobody really "snapped" to what that could mean.  It's a lesson learned for sure and something to watch out for next flight.

Did this derail our progress?  No.  We are still on track to keep flying and try to get to nationals.   This was just an experience to work with and learn from.  

Next Team Sigma rocket on deck is the Llamacorn!  And we ordered parts to build two more rockets.  




Need to contact us?  teamsigmarockets@yahoo.com

Donations

https://www.gofundme.com/teamsigmatarc Please note, donations made to our GoFundMe account are not tax-deductible as they are considered a gift.  

Tax-deductible donations:

Please make a check payable to Albuquerque ACTSO with Team Sigma Rocketry in the memo. 

ACTSO
c/o NAACP
PO Box 1922
Albuquerque, NM 87103-1922

Rocket Building

We finalized our design and double checked our data, so now it is time to build the rocket.   We consulted the design and measured our parts and got to work.  Our build is a two-part process.  We have to build the first parts, glue and then wait until it dries to move to the next step.

Here is Step 1:

Review Design and Practice Cutting on Old Tubes

And Measure

 

 Prep

 Cut

Glue and Set

Now we wait and finish up Step 2 in a few days which is waiting for things to dry and putting the rocket together.

Need to contact us?  teamsigmarockets@yahoo.com

Donations

https://www.gofundme.com/teamsigmatarc Please note, donations made to our GoFundMe account are not tax-deductible as they are considered a gift.  

Tax-deductible donations:

Please make a check payable to Albuquerque ACTSO with Team Sigma Rocketry in the memo. 

ACTSO
c/o NAACP
PO Box 1922
Albuquerque, NM 87103-1922

Payload Solutions

We met for a 3.5 hour session this Saturday learning how to test our payload solutions without firing off our rocket each time to do so; we haven't built it yet, so that would be a problem too!

Why the long session?  Math that is why.  We used mathematical equations and reasoning to figure out a way to accurately test our payload ideas.

Learning how to figure it out.

Testing using different objects we dropped and doing more math...

Preparing to go outside and do drop tests

Setting up a drop test

Performing a drop test

 More testing from different heights

Data!  FYI this is the from Alli and Tahlia's design

Proof their design was a good one!

All in all it was a good lesson and we even got homework from it, but it should help us get closer to nationals.

Need to contact us?  teamsigmarockets@yahoo.com

Donations

https://www.gofundme.com/teamsigmatarc Please note, donations made to our GoFundMe account are not tax-deductible as they are considered a gift.  

Tax-deductible donations:

Please make a check payable to Albuquerque ACTSO with Team Sigma Rocketry in the memo. 

ACTSO
c/o NAACP
PO Box 1922
Albuquerque, NM 87103-1922

Design Decisions and Payload Solutions

Jeremy and Aiden have been working on the rocket design and finalized the design today.  This is very exciting.  All of us have been working on a solution for the payload and have been working on that as well.  Alli and Tahlia are working together and think they have a really good plan.  We are going to test it this weekend with our mentors.

Discussing rocket design

 Explaining payload solution to the team

Need to contact us?  teamsigmarockets@yahoo.com

Donations

https://www.gofundme.com/teamsigmatarc Please note, donations made to our GoFundMe account are not tax-deductible as they are considered a gift.  

Tax-deductible donations:

Please make a check payable to Albuquerque ACTSO with Team Sigma Rocketry in the memo. 

ACTSO
c/o NAACP
PO Box 1922
Albuquerque, NM 87103-1922

Meeting of the Minds

We meet regularly with our mentors Ms. Hernandez and Mr. Davis.  This week's discussion was about the rocket requirements and learning about motor selections.

 

Documenting what we know

 Learning how it is done

 Explaining what we learned

 Our parents are learning too!

Need to contact us?  teamsigmarockets@yahoo.com

Donations

http://www.gofundme.com/teamsigmatarc   Please note, donations made to our GoFundMe account are not tax-deductible as they are considered a gift.  

Tax-deductible donations:

Please make a check payable to Albuquerque ACTSO with Team Sigma Rocketry in the memo. 

ACTSO
c/o NAACP
PO Box 1922
Albuquerque, NM 87103-1922 

TARC 2016 Learning and Planning

We started this year's journey off by learning about rocketry.

We learned about the program, the 2016 requirements, discussed the rocket design options.

Here we are learning about building rocket motors

Watching a "how to" video

 Building the motor

Next we launched last year's rocket, but before that we assembled the rocket as we would for any flight so we could document our steps, ask questions, and get an idea of what we would be doing once our rocket design is complete.

We launched the rocket.

 Learning how the launch pad works

Getting the rocket ready

 

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

 We did have an initial motor misfire so it was a good lesson in being prepared and what to do if something doesn't go right. 

 Literal happy dance after the launch!

Post launch briefing bagels

We seem to be off to a good start!

Need to contact us?  teamsigmarockets@yahoo.com

Donations

http://www.gofundme.com/teamsigmatarc Please note, donations made to our GoFundMe account are not tax-deductible as they are considered a gift.  

Tax-deductible donations:

Please make a check payable to Albuquerque ACTSO with Team Sigma Rocketry in the memo. 

ACTSO
c/o NAACP
PO Box 1922
Albuquerque, NM 87103-1922  

2016 TARC! So it begins

We are ready to try this again!  Our new team has the same name and some different players for the 2016 TARC.  We have one returning member. 

What is TARC?  This video from the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) gives a great explanation of the contest (you can see our 2015 team in the video around the 2.37 mark):

Our Team:

Team

Jeremy - 8th Grade - Team Captain, Design and Motor Specialist (returning member)

Aiden - 9th Grade - Design Specialist and Launch Specialist

Allison - 7th Grade - Communications & Launch Specialist 
Tahlia - 7th Grade - Motor & Payload Specialist

Note: The roles may change as we go forward. 

Mentors/Advisers 

Ms. Hernandez - Mentor

Mr. Davis - Technical Adviser

Mr. Smith - Technical Adviser


Want to help our team get to nationals?

https://www.gofundme.com/teamsigmatarc

Please note, donations made to our GoFundMe account are not tax-deductible as they are considered a gift.  

If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to our team please make a check payable to Albuquerque ACTSO with Team Sigma Rocketry in the memo line and mail to the following address:

ACTSO
c/o NAACP
PO Box 1922
Albuquerque, NM 87103-1922  

Albuquerque ACTSO & TARC Showcase

We've talked about ACTSO and what it is in the very beginning of this blog:

What is is ACTSO?

ACTSO (Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics) is a national yearlong achievement program designed to recruit, stimulate and encourage high academic and cultural achievement.    Albuquerque ACTSO participates in the TARC as one of the yearlong activities.

TARC is only one of the really great things that Albuquerque ACTSO participates in year round.  They currently sponsor:

• Science/Engineering Research Project Mentoring
• Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC)
• Scholastic Young Artists & Writers Contest
• Performing Arts & Writing Workshops
• ACT Pre-College Exam Prep
• American Association of Physics Teacher's Photography Competition

 There will be an Albuquerque ACTSO Showcase:

June 20, 2015

Noon to 4pm

The Albuquerque Art Museum

2000 Mountain Road N.W. (Albuquerque Old Town)

Albuquerque, NM 87104

The virtual gallery for the photography contest can be seen at: www.actsophotoexhibit.org

Here we are at the showcase!

 

Donations can be made through www.actsophotoexhibit.org as well.

Closing out 2015 TARC

Closing out 2015 TARC

We closed out the 2015 TARC on Saturday, May 16th.

Throughout the season we had "hot washes" where both teams come and meet to discuss/present what we were doing, what went wrong, what went right, and how to improve all of it.  This helped out mentors understand what we were doing as well as preparing us for giving presentations.  Hard questions were asked after each hot wash and this helped us learn to answer those questions as well as figure out what to do next or what we should have done.

We all, kids and parents, had to state what our lessons learned from the 2015 TARC were.

We also determined how we were moving forward.

Peter is moving.  Jeremy and Domo are excited to get started on the 2016 TARC.  Allison, Jeremy's younger sister (she is pictured in some of our photos throughout the blog), is eligible to compete in the 2016 TARC and will be joining the team.  We have potentially recruited a few more people and should have a strong team.

We are taking a little time off before we jump in to the 2016 planning, but the new requirements are already getting our minds going on how to meet those.  We will keep this blog going to update our 2016 TARC progress and hopefully all the way to Nationals!

Things that were useful to know

All of the TARC stuff was really an unknown thing to us and we were told a lot by former TARC participants and our mentors.  It all still seemed so foreign and hard to grasp.  Right after we learned we qualified for Nationals in 2015 we found these videos on YouTube and it really helped to visualize what Nationals would be like so we are sharing/linking these videos created by other people to help get a "feel" of what we would be doing.  Hope these are helpful to others as well.

A video by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH9b51qSWVo

A video by own2dogs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI9vZKYedcI

Both of these videos were pretty inspiring and great to help the team understand what we had to look forward to!

Thank you.  

Saturday, May 9th Fly-Offs!

National Fly-Off Day!

Well the day has arrived and we were ready to go.

I'll post more of the details soon...

Checking in

Walking out to the field

Walking back from our flight

Leader boards

Presentation Competition

How did we do?  We ranked 76th out of 101 teams.  As a new team we were proud to make it to nationals and we were hopeful we would do well.  Win even, but now we are more knowledgeable and are ready for the TARC 2016 challenge.  They change the requirements a bit every year, so we are already to start!

Thank you for following us on our journey.