WHIZ KIDS: Marin Students Advance to National Finals in Model Rocket Competition

Images from the 2014 national championship courtesy of the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC).
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By Bay City News Service:

Four teams from high schools in the Bay Area are advancing to the national finals in this year’s Team America Rocketry Challenge next month near Washington, D.C.

The final fly-off is scheduled for May 9 in The Plains, Virginia, and will feature 100 teams from 27 states. Roughly a third of the students competing are girls, and seven of the finalist teams are all-female, according to organizers at the Aerospace Industries Association in Arlington, Virginia.

California will be represented by 12 teams, including those from Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, Redwood High School in Larkspur, Saratoga High School in Saratoga and Newark Memorial High School in Newark.

The Larkspur team is comprised entirely of varsity athletes and the Pleasanton team is all sophomores who say they want to major in engineering in college, organizers said.

The first round of the competition will involve building a rocket designed to safely carry an egg to a height of 800 feet and back down in 46 to 48 seconds. If the egg is cracked or broken, the team is disqualified, according to organizers.

This year’s competition involves a special requirement that the rocket’s motor and the egg have to return to the ground in separate sections.

During the second round of competition, the requirements will also be modified slightly so that rockets have to travel to 775 feet and return to the ground in 45 to 47 seconds, organizers said.

Scores are based on the height and duration of the rocket’s flight. Finalists are competing for scholarship money and prizes, including a trip to the International Paris Air Show, paid for by Raytheon. The winning team will also get the opportunity to compete against teams from France and the United Kingdom at the International Rocketry Challenge, according to organizers.