Happy Independence Day!

Learn More at the MC2 Website: Southern Thunder 2015

Geezer TARC, HARA’s version of TARC for “older” rocketeers begins with the announcement of the 2016 TARC challenge at Nationals this weekend. It is open to any interested rocketeer over 21, and provides an excellent way for TARC mentors (or potential TARC mentors) to get a feel for the difficulties that will be faced by their teams in the upcoming months.

Duane Mayer’s winning rocket for 2015 – the yellow and black “Beast”

Standard TARC rules for 2016 season will apply, except for the following:

1) Geezer TARC begins with the announcement of the 2016 rules in May and ends with the contestants’ rockets being launched at a single event (date TBD, but well before school starts in late summer).

2) Each contestant may enter up to two rockets. These rockets may not fly before the official launch date, and the score shall be determined by the first flight of each on that date. The contestant’s score shall be the better of the two flights, or the score of one flight if only one rocket is entered.

3) Any commercial altimeter may be used to determine altitude. However, reflights are not allowed if there is an altimeter malfunction; in this case, the flight will be disqualified (So choose a reliable altimeter).

4) There is only one rocket per design, and there are no test or sub-scale flights permitted for the design. Its merit will be judged solely by the rocket’s performance at the contest launch. If two rockets are entered, they must be of substantially different design – different number of motors, fins, or something major – an inch shorter or taller does not constitute a substantial difference, nor does the same design at a different scale (e.g., BT-70 versus BT-80 versions).

Bullpup 1 – a dual 24mm cluster for 2015. This was my best performer.

Der Eggcracker – a minimum diameter TARC rocket. This one was too efficient; it went WAY over altitude.

 
In the past, we have launched at a horse farm in Harvest. This year’s launch will probably be at “Pegasus field” in Research Park in Huntsville or at a HARA launch in Manchester. The launch will take place in late July or early August, and yes, you must be there to fly. That’s part of the contest – we want to witness what happens! We will try to pick a date that will be agreeable to all schedules.

Geezer TARC measures your ability to design an rocket to meet the TARC challenge – there are no proxies or test flights, as this would defeat the purpose. There is only one rocket for each design, and its first flight will be at the launch. If you enter two rockets, each must be based on a different design (like “Sure Thing” versus “Hail Mary”). This is a major part of the fun of the contest – we spend a lot of time designing a rocket to meet the challenge, but will it do it without modifications, on the first flight?

Good luck, and see you on the field!

For the first time since 2008 no TARC team from Madison County will participate in the Manassas finals. But HARA’s record for assisting teams that go continues with Russellville High School making the cut. During a launch day (shown above) of several schools’ qualification attempts, HARA witnessed two RHS flights for scores of an 8 and a 12. Their total score of 20 put them well in the top one hundred teams that scored below a 40. We congratulate them and wish them good luck on the flying field and safe travel on the road. There is only one other Alabama team besides Russellville representing the state at the finals this year. Lincoln HS from Lincoln, AL will join the flyoff in Virginia. The results should be on the TARC website by 6 pm Saturday, May 9.
For a detailed narrative of the various qualification and practice launches and a scores listing see
Bill’s blog.

Men’s Health magazine lists out the 10 manliest hobbies on Earth. Checkout #4. Click the Men’s Health logo to go the the article.

You built model rockets as a kid. It’s time to step up your game. These big model rockets weigh a minimum of 52 pounds, can be upwards of six feet in length, and they require FAA approval before launching! This is the big-league. Visit the National Association of Rocketry (www.nar.org) to initiate your launch sequence.

On Friday April17th, Vince Hugele, Duane Mayer, Daniel Cavender and Woody Bevill set up an information booth at the Weatherly Heights Elementary School for their spring STEM event.  We had originally planned to launch several A/B powered low power rockets to kick off the event, but Mother Nature had other higher priority plans that forced the launch to get scrubbed. Read more

More than 30 high school, college and university teams will launch student-built rockets during the 15th annual NASA Student Launch event April 10-11 near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Read more