Students Prepare Rockets for NASA-Boosted Mile-High Launch


A rocket, designed and built by students, is launched during last year's Student Launch Initiative.

In spite of recent cutbacks the American space program is alive and thriving--at least for students. More than 500 middle school, high school, and college students will test their rocket prowess as part of a special NASA program. The NASA Student Launch Projects challenges teams of students to build and test large-scale reusable rockets of their own design. Launch takes place in April 2012.

The experience is designed to allow students to demonstrate proof-of-concept for their rocket designs and helps turn abstract classroom lessons into tangible activities. The ultimate goal: to design and build a rocket that can haul a payload up as close as possible to an altitude of one mile.

On the K-12 side, 15 middle school and high school teams will participate in the non-competitive Student Launch Initiative. On the higher ed side, 42 college and university teams will compete in the University Student Launch Initiative for a number of prizes, including a $5,000 first-place award put up by ATK Aerospace Systems in Salt Lake City.

During the year-long process, teams must document the progress of their work by writing detailed preliminary and post-launch reports and maintaining a public website for their rocket-building efforts. Teams must also concoct educational projects for schools and youth groups in their areas to "carry forward" their interest in rocketry.

As the teams progress in their work, students get an education in risk management, project management, chemistry, physics, engineering, hazardous materials handling, and even government procurement practices.

During the April launch, the teams meet up at a farm near NASA's Huntsville, AL-based Marshall Space Flight Center, where NASA engineers will put the student rockets through the same kind of rigorous reviews and safety inspections applied to full-sized vehicles that are expected to go into space. On April 21, after a day of workshops, students will attempt to fire their rockets toward the one-mile goal, operating onboard payloads and waiting for parachutes to open, signaling a safe return to Earth.

Success isn't assured. During the 2010-2011 challenge, the rockets of two of the 17 K-12 teams didn't get off the ground. Among the college entries, six of 33 failed to launch.

"This competition is extremely important to ATK to mentor and train our future workforce," said Charlie Precourt, general manager and vice president of the company's Space Launch Systems division. Precourt is a former space shuttle astronaut who piloted STS-71 in 1995 and commanded STS-84 in 1997 and STS-91 in 1998. "ATK is proud to enter our fifth year as a partner with NASA on this initiative to engage the next generation. The competition grows in impact each year."

Awards will be given in a number of areas, including display of engineering skill and ingenuity, team spirit, and vehicle design. Tektronix has donated two of its TDS2000 Series oscilloscopes to be awarded to the teams that earn the "Best Payload" and "Best Science Mission Directorate Challenge Payload" honors.

The NASA Student Launch Projects are sponsored by NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, Science Mission Directorate, and Office of Education Flight Projects.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • abstract illustration of a glowing AI-themed bar graph on a dark digital background with circuit patterns

    Stanford 2025 AI Index Reveals Surge in Adoption, Investment, and Global Impact as Trust and Regulation Lag Behind

    Stanford University's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) has released its AI Index Report 2025, measuring AI's diverse impacts over the past year.

  • modern college building with circuit and brain motifs

    Anthropic Launches Claude for Education

    Anthropic has announced a version of its Claude AI assistant tailored for higher education institutions. Claude for Education "gives academic institutions secure, reliable AI access for their entire community," the company said, to enable colleges and universities to develop and implement AI-enabled approaches across teaching, learning, and administration.

  • lightbulb

    Call for Speakers Now Open for Tech Tactics in Education: Overcoming Roadblocks to Innovation

    The annual virtual conference from the producers of Campus Technology and THE Journal will return on September 25, 2025, with a focus on emerging trends in cybersecurity, data privacy, AI implementation, IT leadership, building resilience, and more.

  • From Fire TV to Signage Stick: University of Utah's Digital Signage Evolution

    Jake Sorensen, who oversees sponsorship and advertising and Student Media in Auxiliary Business Development at the University of Utah, has navigated the digital signage landscape for nearly 15 years. He was managing hundreds of devices on campus that were incompatible with digital signage requirements and needed a solution that was reliable and lowered labor costs. The Amazon Signage Stick, specifically engineered for digital signage applications, gave him the stability and design functionality the University of Utah needed, along with the assurance of long-term support.