Team America Rocket Challenge 2018

Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) is an aerospace design and engineering event for teams of US secondary school students (7th through 12th grades) run by the NAR and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). Teams can be sponsored by schools or by nonprofit youth organizations such as Scouts, 4-H, or Civil Air Patrol (but not the NAR or other rocketry organizations).

The goal of TARC is to motivate students to pursue aerospace as an exciting career field, and it is co-sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers, Estes Industries, the Department of Defense, and NASA.

2018 Team America Rocketry Challenge registration is now open at rocketcontest.org. Teams may register anytime between now and December 1, 2017.

Rockets must not exceed 650 grams gross weight at liftoff. The y must use body tubes of two different diameters for their exterior structure. The sm aller-diameter of the two body tubes must be used for the upper (egg payload) end of the rocket and must not be greater than 57 millimeters (2.25 inches, corresponding to body tube s generally called BT-70) in diameter but must be large enough to contain eggs of up to 45 m illimeters in diameter. The larger-diameter lower body tube must be at least 64 millimet ers (2.52 inches) in diameter (body tubes commonly called BT-80 are 66 millimeters) and must contain the rocket moto r. The overall length of the r ocket must be no less than 650 millimeters (25.6 inches) as measured from the lowest to the highest points of the airfra me structure in launch configuration. The entire rocket must return to the ground safely with all parts connected toget her using one or more parachutes as its recovery device. Rockets may not be commercially- made kits designed to carry egg payloads with the only modi fication being the addition of an altimeter compartment. The y must have only one stage. Th ey must be powered only by commercially-made model rocket motors of “F” or lower po wer class that are listed on th e TARC Certified Engine List posted on the TARC website and provided in the TARC Handbook. Any number of motors may be used, but the motors used must not contain a combined total of more than 80 New ton-seconds of total impulse based on the total impulse ratings in the TARC list. Motors must be retained in the r ocket during flight and at ejec tion by a positive mechanical means (clip, hook, screw-on cap, etc.) and not retained simp ly by friction fit in the motor mounting tube. Rockets must not contain any pyrotechnic charges except those provided as part of the basic commercially -made rocket motor used for the flight, and these must be used only in the manner presc ribed in the instructions for t hat motor.

LUNAR is honored to support the TARC qualification launches again this year. TARC teams are welcome to participate in the regularly scheduled club launches. The launch fees are waived for all TARC teams. As the deadline approaches in April, special TARC are scheduled at Nasa Ames:

David Raimondi, TARC Launch Coordinator
d.raimondi@sbcglobal.net, 408.997.2571 (h) or 408.742.5173 (w)

 

There will be some additional competitions this year

Engineering Notebook Competition:

The Engineering Notebook Contest is back again this year. You can read the rules here and see the notebooks from the 2016 and 2017 winners. Even if you don't submit your notebook for the contest, we encourage you to keep one. Building an engineering notebook will help you keep organized and analyze your data. It’s not a coincidence that the Space Potatoes went on to win TARC 2018 and the International Rocketry Challenge. Entries will be judged by engineers from TARC sponsor companies and the winning team will be awarded a cash prize.

Team Outreach Competition:

The TARC Outreach Competition will also continue this season. The competition provides an opportunity to show off your team’s work getting others involved with rocketry and STEM. The team with the best TARC Outreach Competition score that submitted a valid set of qualifying flights (sorry DQs do not count), but did not make the top 100 teams by flight score, will earn a spot to compete in the National Finals and will be eligible to compete for prize money just like all the other teams. We will also award a prize at the National Finals to the team with the best overall outreach program. Teams in the top 100 are eligible for this award too. You can read full details here.

Central California TARC Team Mentor Volunteers:

A complete list of mentors can be found at the NAR website.

Special TARC Launch Schedule

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