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2018-2019 Space Grant Midwest High-Power Rocket
Competition - the "Efficient Supersonic" Rocket
Challenge
The Minnesota Space Grant Consortium (MnSGC) announces its intention to run a Space Grant Midwest High-Power Rocket Competition during the 2018-2019 academic year. This competition will be held in the midwest, but is open to college/university student teams from across the nation. This competition is an opportunity for students to design and construct custom high-power rockets to be launched in May of 2019 from a Tripoli MN launch site near North Branch, MN, about a one hour drive north of Minneapolis/St. Paul.
In this competition college-student teams will design and construct an “efficient supersonic” single stage, dual-deploy-required, high-power rocket that will fly twice in the competition. Rockets will fly first on a Cesaroni 491-I-218-14A “White Thunder” (1-grain, 54 mm diameter) motor – unlikely to go supersonic, but for head-to-head comparison of maximum altitude, speed, and acceleration. The second flight can be on any Cesaroni or AeroTech I-class or J-class motor and will be rated based on going supersonic but doing so as “efficiently” as possible – that is, using the lowest possible impulse motor and only going slightly faster than the speed of sound. See details below regarding a “figure of merit” to help define “efficient” in this context. The rocket must also carry a non-commercial data-logging sensor suite to characterize flight performance including (at least) axial acceleration, velocity, altitude, rotation about rocket axis (AKA “roll”), and ambient pressure in the av-bay. Extra points will be awarded to rockets with a camera system that can see launch, landing, plus the deployment/inflation of both parachutes and also to rockets that carry a radio telemetry system capable of sending flight performance data to the ground during the flight, to be relayed to the judges before the rocket lands. Note that all fabrication work on the rocket (except for possible machining of plastic and/or metal parts) must be performed by students.
Logistical questions may be directed to James
Flaten, MN Space Grant, U of MN, flate001@umn.edu.
Technical questions may be directed to Gary Stroick,
Tripoli MN, president@offwegorocketry.com.
INDUSTRY SPONSORS:
IMPORTANT DATES:
1. September 25, 2018, 7 to 8 p.m. CST (repeated January 17, 2019, 7 to 8 p.m. CST): Informational telecon -- contact James Flaten for call-in information
2. October 1, 2018: Obtain own state's Space Grant "sponsorship" and submit a (non-binding) "Notice of Intent to Compete" letter (all teams, even those not starting to work till winter/spring)
3. DUE BEFORE YOU START TO BUILD (or by Feb. 15, 2019 at the very latest): Draft of Design (see handbook for details)
4. January 31, 2019: $400 Registration Fee due (must pay more (later) if the two motors selected cost over $100 total)
5. January 31, 2019: Date by which all judges should be identified. Each state sponsoring more than one team needs to provide ONE judge. States sponsoring four or more teams may be asked to provide TWO judges. States may bring a judge from their own state or work with Gary Stroick or Tripoli MN to identify a local person to serve this role.
6. February 8, 2019: Submit a Declaration of Competition Attendance form
7. March 8, 2019: Preliminary Design (Written) Report (PDR) along with Competition Motor Order and Model Rocket Flight documentation
8. May 6, 2019: Flight Readiness (Written) Report (FRR) along with Educational Outreach form
9. May 18-19, 2019 (Saturday/Sunday): (Afternoon/evening) oral presentations and safety checks (first day) then all-day launch competition plus evening social event (second day)
10. May 20, 2019 (Monday): Alternate (weather delay) launch date
11. May 31, 2019: Post Flight Performance (Written) Report (PFPR)
12. June 7, 2019: Competition Results Announced
Document archive for 2018-2019 "Efficient Supersonic" competition
NEW: Instructions for documenting competition flights (due by Sept. 30, 2019)
Announcement of Competition (circulated September 1, 2018):
Competition promotional flier:
Handbook for Competition:
- Space_Grant_Midwest_Rocket_Competition_Handbook_2018-2019_v5_posted updated version, with changes highlighted - most current version posted 12/12/2018
- Here is a summary of this year's rules
Slides for Informational Telecon:
- IntroductoryTeleconSlides2018-2019 updated version, with changes highlighted
- Link
to a WebEx video recording of the Sept. 25, 2018
informational telecon (lost screen sharing
part way through, but audio is complete - perhaps
watch with slides open in another window)
Q and A documents:
- Q and A document through Nov 16 2018
- Raven3
altimeter mounting and wiring instructions
posted December 2018
- Raven4 altimeter addendum posted March 2019
(Non-Binding) "Notice of Intent to Compete" Template (due Oct. 1, 2018, mail form to James Flaten at flate001@umn.edu):
Reports by a past year's winning team (from U of MN - Duluth) - optional reading:
Instructions for paying
the $400 Registration fee, due January 31, 2019:
Information about hotels
and camping options, plus stores (like hardware
stores) and other "local attractions"
- Hotel room block information (updated 3/4/2019 with Forest Lake AmericInn infor) (plus contact info for other hotels, if the rooms blocks are full by the time you call)
Last Modified: 2019-05-22 at 12:51:32 -- this is in International Standard Date and Time Notation