Utica Schools Students Prepare to Take Off in Elite Rocket Contest

The nation's future aerospace engineers could be right here from the Shelby Township area.

Students get ready for launch

The Shelby Rocket Club from Shelby Junior High School is preparing for the prestigious Team America Rocketry Challenge next month, where 100 teams from across the country will compete in the world's largest rocket contest in Washington, D.C.

Local students started designing and building their rocket last fall and had several test launches in December, according to the Daily Tribune.

"The kids are learning a lot about trial and error. They have to launch, and then they have to try to figure out what went wrong and why it went wrong," Andy Davis, Shelby Junior High science teacher, who coaches the team with Art Kahler, told the newspaper.

Teams from across country gather for contest

The Team America Rocketry Challenge, also known as TARC, is sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry.

"It was created in the fall of 2002 as a one-time celebration of the Centennial of Flight, but the enthusiasm about the event was so great that AIA and NAR were asked to hold the contest annually," according to its website.

Today, about 7,000 students from across the country compete in the contest and are encouraged to study math and science, which ideally will lead to aerospace careers.

Prizes include $60,000 in cash and scholarships split between the top 10 finishers. Additionally, NASA invites top teams to join its Student Launch Initiative, an advanced rocketry program.

2013 teams and rules for rocket competition

The registered teams for the 2013 competition from Michigan include students from Shelby Junior High and Utica High School. Among the other Metro Detroit teams are students from Troy High School, Grosse Pointe North High School, De La Salle Collegiate High School and Macomb Mathematics Science Technology Center, according to TARC.

This year's rules for the competition are:

• Target altitude of 750 feet
• Duration of flight should be between 48-50 seconds
• Payload is one raw egg placed horizontally
• External diameter of rocket must be no less than 60 millimeters
• Recovery by a 15 inch diameter parachute
• Gross liftoff weight of no more than 650 grams
• Rocket motor total impulse limit of 80 N-sec

View an attached video about TARC (2011) posted on Youtube.