CONTEST EMAIL ARCHIVES
Date: 04/19/2006
Subject: It's Rocket Science
Article published Apr 16, 2006
It's rocket science
Hobby teaches engineering
By Maria Longley/staff
The News Leader
Model rocketry is one of those hobbies that has never really had an all-the-rage moment in the 50 or so years since the first rocket kits were sold.
"It's a pastime that appeals mainly to a subset of people in a very intense way," says Mark Bundick, president of the National Rocketry Association.
But thanks to an active local rocketry club, opportunities abound for curious science buffs or technophiles in schools, and at least one public recreation department in the Central Shenandoah Valley.
Daniel Fitzgerald has been enthralled by all things space since he was a little tyke - and he's only 7 now. It came honestly - his dad, Troy, loves astronomy and has a huge Star Wars figure collection.
As he shows a visitor how his constellation globe works - a gizmo that reflects the galaxy on the walls and ceiling of his bedroom - Daniel describes his future first walk in space.
"On Mars, you have to have a space suit to walk around there."
Troy Fitzgerald said he and his son literally had a blast taking Augusta County Parks and Recreation Department's model rocketry workshop last month.
"He hadn't done anything like that before," he said. "It was something fun for us to do together."
Fitzgerald added that anybody, even people with little experience or interest in the mechanics of rocketry, would enjoy the workshop, which includes kits and instruction in basic rocketry by Chuck Neff, president of Valley Aerospace Team public rocketry club. Another workshop is being offered in May.
"I've always loved rocketry and have wanted to get more people involved," said Neff, who approached the county about offering the workshop.
"I love knowing that something I built works the way it should, and I'm able to send it up into the sky," Neff said.
Hobbyists should follow the National Association of Rocketry's safety code, available on its Web site at www.nar.org, Neff said. The site details rules for when and how to conduct flights, safe rocket materials, appropriate flight weather and safety distances.
But it's still as safe a pastime as they come, he said. In fact, there has never been a serious injury or death attributed to hobby rocketry, Neff said.
Although model rocketry still isn't considered necessarily cool, it's also not so nerdy anymore.
"From my personal experience when I was a kid, people who did it felt nerdy," he said. "I think that has changed a lot. A lot of kids these days are so inundated with technology with video games and computers. Sometimes it actually takes a rocket taking off from a pad to get their attention."
Neff is the go-to guy for programs that use rocketry as an education tool. He has successfully taken on some of his own ambitious projects, having launched a 14-foot, 7-inch rocket weighing 85 pounds two years ago.
Students take the challenge
Neff is a consultant for local schools participating in the Team America Rocketry Challenge, competition sponsored by the Aerospace Industry Association.
The event was the brainchild of J.P. Stevens, vice president of space systems at the association, who was looking for a way to get kids thinking about careers in aerospace engineering. The association works in partnership with NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense to promote the competition.
"We predict a problem in the future," Stevens said. "The average age of an aerospace worker at every level is 54. There's going to be a lot of people retiring."
Grace Christian School will compete for its fourth year, and Robert E. Lee High School has two teams that qualified to compete in this year's challenge in The Plains next month.
The competition crosses over into experimental and/or amateur rocketry - no kits or pre-manufactured parts of any sort are allowed. The rocket and its ascent must be created and executed from scratch by each team.
Grace Christian's seven-member team, assembled in a small meeting room on a recent school day, pondered over how to fix their rocket's fin, which broke off during a test flight a few days earlier.
"How did the fin break off?" asked sophomore Lindsey Keegan.
"It caught fire," explained Dana Tacy, the team's faculty advisor.
"It caught fire?"
"Oh, it was fine. It landed in a pond."
The team fixed the fin and parachute. Working together, the students would then spend some time figuring out what went wrong.
"I enjoy the process of building it and then the thrill of watching it do - or not do - what it's supposed to do," said Brent, Tacy's son and team member.
This year's challenge is to design, build and fly a rocket carrying a raw egg and return it safely to the ground while staying aloft for 45 seconds and reaching an altitude of 800 feet. The 100 best compete for a share of a $60,000 prize package at the 2006 National Finals.
How creative do the teams get? Grace Christian's launch pad is made from scrap metal from a Model A Ford. A piece of styrofoam noodle, melted out in the middle, will cradle its fragile passenger during the launch.
"They remind me of a bunch of MacGyvers," Tacy said.
She took charge of the team last year, when it placed 6th out of 712. The top 10 ranking earned Tacy a trip to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. There she learned how aerospace engineering affects people's everyday lives.
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