American Rocketry Challenge

“The American Rocketry Challenge is the world’s largest rocket contest with nearly 5,000 students nationwide competing each year. The contest gives middle and high school students the opportunity to design, build and launch model rockets and hands-on experience solving engineering problems.”

Curious to learn more about the specifics? Here’s a summary of the parameters for the 2021 competition:

  • "Submit an application for a team of three to ten students (grades 6-12) on or before December 1, 2020.

  • Build a model rocket that carries one raw hen egg to an altitude of 800ft, stays airborne for between 40 and 43 seconds, and returns the rocket to the ground safely. The eggs and altimeter must be carried in a capsule that separates from the rest of the rocket and recovers together using one or more parachutes.

  • The rocket must have a gross liftoff weight of no more than 650 grams, a minimum length of at least 650 millimeters, and be powered by commercial rocket motor(s) of class “F” or smaller with no more than 80 N-sec of total impulse across all motors.

  • Fly your rocket in front of an observer from the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) for an official qualification score between September 1, 2020 and April 5, 2021.

  • If your score from the sum of two flights is one of the 101 best, you will be invited to compete for a share of the $100,000 prize package in a national fly-off on May 15, 2021.

How do I get started? Click here.

How do I expand this narrative arc? If science and space are in your narrative arc think about supplementing this project with another science (or space)-based opportunity. For example:

  • "Submit an application for a team of three to ten students (grades 6-12) on or before December 1, 2020.

  • Build a model rocket that carries one raw hen egg to an altitude of 800ft, stays airborne for between 40 and 43 seconds, and returns the rocket to the ground safely. The eggs and altimeter must be carried in a capsule that separates from the rest of the rocket and recovers together using one or more parachutes.

  • The rocket must have a gross liftoff weight of no more than 650 grams, a minimum length of at least 650 millimeters, and be powered by commercial rocket motor(s) of class “F” or smaller with no more than 80 N-sec of total impulse across all motors.

  • Fly your rocket in front of an observer from the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) for an official qualification score between September 1, 2020 and April 5, 2021.

  • If your score from the sum of two flights is one of the 101 best, you will be invited to compete for a share of the $100,000 prize package in a national fly-off on May 15, 2021.

https://rocketcontest.org/

How do I expand this narrative arc? If science and space are in your narrative arc think about supplementing this project with another science (or space)-based opportunity. For example:

CompetitionBetsy PutnamMath