Texas Highways – Page 5 – On the Wings of Angels

Fredericksburg’s Engineering Rocket Program-Pre-Launch Week Red Bird #19 Update

Red Bird #19 is scheduled for testing at White Sands Missile Range(WSMR) next Friday, June 22. This marks the last big event for Rockets 2018 and the Fredericksburg STEM Academy for this season.

These are the Goddard level rockets, which are the culmination of all the skills the students have learned throughout their years in the STEM program. This marks the final senior project for those schools that participate in this level of the SystemsGo program.

As of today, June 15, the Fredericksburg Engineering Red Bird #19 rocket team is due to pick up the vehicle from SRM tomorrow, now that the welding is completed. The team still has to complete the assembly of the motor and then integrate it, as well as the, injector valve, payload, and parachutes. They will be attempting to finish the FRR tonight. In spite of the remaining tasks they are on schedule to make their launch at WSMR.

Red Bird #19 has an 8 inch diameter and is 25 feet long. The team outsourced the payload to the district IT employee and former FMS science teacher, Keith Jenkins. He created a sensor for the vehicle that will measure methane levels at the time of nose cone deployment.

When asked about the rocket’s expectations, Harrison Spisak stated, “My expectations are about 65,00 feet, but after NASA evaluated it they estimated 102,000.” Therefore that is the hopeful estimate if all goes perfectly.

Today, team members, Joey Leal and Harrison Spisak were working on the FRR, and T-1 briefing as seen in the photos below.

Here the nose cone and injection system also await integration.

Here Joey Leal checks on the rockets progress at SRM machine shop.

Harrison Spisak’s father will be hauling the rocket on his trailer to White Sands for the team.

Pictured here is this year’s Red Bird #19 Team: Back Row: Harrison Spisak, Jacob Wienecke, Evan Knapp, Bryce Erwin, Sergio Walle. Front Row: Corbin Smajstrla, Rebecca Sechrist, Pierce Vasquez, Joey Leal. Not pictured in the seniors picture was Chris Calzada.

Launches are scheduled for June 22nd and June 23rd, with a contingency day on the 24th if needed. The team will travel out to WSMR on Wednesday, June 20th, and back home again on the 23rd.

There are 5 schools scheduled to launch 6 rockets. These schools include:

Alamo Heights
Anahuac
Booker T. Washington
Brazoswood
Fredericksburg
Union Grove

The current launch schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, June 2oth Travel Day
Thursday, June 21st T-1 and Site Set up/Rocket Prep at WC- 50
Friday, June 22rd Launch Day One (Four Rockets-Fredericksburg, Brazoswood, Booker T., Anahuac)
Saturday, June 23rd Launch Day Two (Two Rockets–Union Grove, Alamo Heights)
Sunday, June 24th Contingency Day/ Travel Day
Monday, June 25th Travel Day if needed

This article is the eighth for the 2017/2018 school year in a series of periodic updates that has followed the Fredericksburg Engineering/Rocket program. This school is a participant of the SystemsGo STEM program. This series of articles is intended to support and encourage students in the program as they share their working status and accomplishments throughout the year in the program. These publications will be available for tags and re-posting.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

#Rockets2018 #SystemsGo #FredricksburgSTEMAcademy #Launcher01 #RideTheSky

Rockets 2018 Saturday, Day 2 For Houston -Recap and Sunday’s Schedule

Today was another success filled day at Houston Rockets as six schools were slated to launch a total of 24 rockets. The number dropped to 19 though as 5 from different schools were scrubbed. That is a total of 40 rockets so far for the weekend. The Recovery map shows 35 found with 5 lost or in process of location. At this point they are at an 88% recovery rate. That is not bad, Fredericksburg’s crews finished their weekend with a 91% recovery rate. I will be curious to see which recovery group will finish with the highest percentage. Just thought I would add in a little friendly competition between recovery groups. Besides the better we all do, the better it is for the students.

Well weather seemed to be a repeat of yesterday with a sunny/partly cloudy but breezy day. Not bad rocket weather. It definitely didn’t hamper the launches because they put up all 19 by 17:26(5:26) this evening. That is an awesome time schedule for the day. As Phil stated on the Livestream, “We are going to get to eat supper before 10:30 tonight.”

Interesting events for the day included a “Dog-onaut” which literally did Ride The Sky on four of Northstar High School’s rockets today. His name was Logan, the stuffed dalmatian dog that they affixed to the vehicles and recovered him to ride again and again. After his fourth flight they did allow him retirement and he will always be remembered in the high school rocket launch hall of fame. Unfortunately I did not get my own shot of him, but this one is from the SystemsGo Facebook post about him.

The last launch of the day took the theme from #RideTheSky to #WriteYourOwnStoryInTheSky. As Northstar High School launched a rocket designed to look like a giant pencil. Here it is pictured below.

Launches will continue Sunday. The schedule is posted below, as well as an online link to it. Four schools and 11 rockets are due for testing.

The current launch schedule for Sunday is shown below and may also be downloaded from SystemsGo website at the following address: http://www.systemsgo.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-Houston-Flight-Schedule-4-17-18.pdf

Sunday, May 13, 2018
School Name / Teacher	1/1	Trans
Anahuac HS Kirk Moore	1	1
Booker T Washington HS Nghia Le	2	1
Kingwood Park HS Glenn Taylor	4
McGregor HS Taylor Wilson	1	1
Schools Launching 4
Totals	8	3
Total Rockets	11

Please remember that since there is public access to this event, there are registration tickets for order and those may be found on the SystemsGo website as well at this link: https://www.greateventseats.com/SystemsGo . They are FREE, but REQUIRED. There is a waiver for admission you will sign along with your admittance ticket. You can get them at the gate but it is strongly advised to do this online ahead of time so that you do not slow yourself or anyone else down getting onto the range. This could cause you and others to miss your intended launches.

More event details will be available here after the completion of Sunday’s event. Reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted during the events.

Pictures will be available here in this blog and in Facebook albums for you to view at the end of each days launches, as well as during the day from Phil and SystemsGo on Facebook. Links to both our Facebook pages are below.

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow

Unfortunately I only had WiFi available for a short portion of the end of the day, so I only got a few screen grabs, and no photos from a team members but I will post what I have.

https://www.facebook.com/SystemsGoEducation/

If you follow this program and like to view the launches, Rockets 2018 will have Livestream available at the Smith Point launches so you will be able to view them online at the following address: https://livestream.com/systemsgo.

If you have been to the Houston area launches in the past you may want to check out the SystemsGo website for information because this location is only in its second year for that area. Information and a map link are available.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org . Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Hope to see you at the races, nope, but I will race you for a rocket! #RideTheSky! #Launcher01 #ItISrocketScience #Rockets2018

I would like to wish all the schools and students a picture perfect flight and recovery.

Rockets 2018-Friday, Day 1 For Houston-Recap and Saturday’s Schedule

Today, Friday was the first day of Houston rocket launches. Five schools tested a total of 21 rockets today. The weather was sunny/partly cloudy and windy.

The first launch of the day, was Rocket #85 from Brazosport High School. The vehicle left the rail nicely but soon went into a spiral and came down. The upside is that is was fully recovered so they will be able to analyze their data and determine what happened. Students commented after the launch that they were happy that it did leave the rail. Congratulations Brazosport on your launch and recovery!

The second launch of the day, was by the Aeronautics and Rocket Club of the University of Texas at San Antonio. This is an actual club, not a class at UTSA that students join on their own. The utilize their own time in order to research, develop, draft, design, build, and fund their rocket. The students are all class levels. Today’s Rocket # 87 is a Transonic rocket predicted to surpass at least the first sound barrier. They have a double payload including a video device inside the rocket attached to the altimeter to video activity inside the vehicle during flight, and a GoPro camera mounted to record the flight from the outside as it is traveling. Ironically, the student in the interview said this was to back up the Live feed because sometimes it goes out, at which time it did go out, and I missed the rest of the interview! They had a very impressive launch, unfortunately it flew so well, that it is as of yet unrecovered.

Alpha Search and Rescue is there again this year, heading up the recovery efforts. Erin spoke with Phil and explained how their system works with a real-time mapping, GPS, and azimuth to locate the rockets after launch. Their mapping system allows viewers to follow the progress of the rockets, and know if their vehicle has been recovered and where it was found, or if it is still being actively searched for, or determined to be unrecoverable.

The link for that mapping system is shown on SystemsGo‘s website and listed here. You will be able to follow the progress of the recovery throughout the weekend on it. https://bit.ly/2FRSjVx

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is also available on site again this weekend. Take the time to visit with their rep about the opportunities available for your students.

Well unfortunately I lost my feed after 1700, but according to the search and rescue map all 21 were launched and all but 3 were recovered. That does not mean each was a perfect launch, but then that is why they are considered test vehicles, and in spite of that they are all considered successful because of the students’ accomplishments in getting them here today to test. All in all it was a good day with fabulous weather, and a great location with good results. And they get to do it all over again Saturday.

Launches will continue all day Saturday, and Sunday. Saturday’s schedule, posted below, and with a link to it online, boasts six schools and 24 rockets.

The current launch schedule for Friday is shown below and may also be downloaded from SystemsGo website at the following address: http://www.systemsgo.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-Houston-Flight-Schedule-4-17-18.pdf

Saturday, May 12, 2018
School Name / Teacher	1/1	Trans
Brazoswood HS Dale Hobbs	3
Channelview HS Alan Stone	3
Hardin-Jefferson HS Mike Fogo	2	1
Liberty HS Matthew Williams	1	1
Northstar HS Byron Appelt	1	2
SF Austin HS Richard Hubbard	10

Schools Launching 6
Totals	20	4
Total Rockets	24

I will post each days schedules in this blog. They can also be found in original format on the SystemsGo website Events page.

More event details will be available here after the completion of Friday’s event.

Pictures will be available here in this blog and in Facebook albums for you to view at the end of each days launches, as well as during the day from Phil and SystemsGo on Facebook as well. Links to both our Facebook pages are below.

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow

Unfortunately I only got a few screen grabs, and only one photo from a team member but I will post what I have.

https://www.facebook.com/SystemsGoEducation/

More event details will be available here in upcoming days as events get closer. Daily reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted during the events.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org . Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Hope to see you at the races, nope, but I will race you for a rocket! #RideTheSky! #Launcher01 #ItISrocketScience #Rockets2018

I would like to wish all the schools and students a picture perfect flight and recovery.

Fredericksburg Rockets 2018-Thursday Day 1 Report – Friday Schedule

Thursday went well, and Rockets 2018 in Willow City is off and going. We had nice weather, warm but still with a cool breeze all day. It was bright and sunny with very little cloud cover so launches went off without any weather delays despite rain on Wednesday evening which helped to settle the dust on the range.

The team put up 19 rockets for the day and recovered all but maybe 2 which were long transonic flights at the end of the day. No worries though, there are still two more days in which to locate them.

Dave Willden from SystemsGo New Mexico is on board helping with the Pad. Phil even commandeered him for an interview during an early morning slow spot.

All in all it was a great and mostly uneventful day with a lot of really nice flights.

Come out and see us tomorrow as the action resumes again around 8:30 a.m.

Please remember that since there is public access to this event, there are registration tickets for order and those may be found on the SystemsGo website as well at this link: https://www.greateventseats.com/events.php They are FREE, but REQUIRED. There is a waiver for admission you will sign along with your admittance ticket. You can get them at the gate but it is strongly advised to do this online ahead of time so that you do not slow yourself or anyone else down getting onto the range. This could cause you and others to miss your intended launches.

Here is the link to the live stream again. https://livestream.com/systemsgo

A map to the site is on the SystemsGo website at the following link:

http://www.systemsgo.org/events/

But just in case here is a picture of the same map:

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow

https://www.facebook.com/SystemsGoEducation/

Here is the schedule of schools launching Friday. Currently 7 schools and 25 rockets:

School Name / Teacher	1/1	Trans
Buinger CTE Academy Michael Skrzynski	1	2
Fabens HS Manny Moreno	2	1
Kingwood HS Louis Mascolo	3	2
Marble Falls HS Leslie Alexander	1	1
Tom Moore (Ingram) HS David Bunch	2	2
University HS Dennis Oubre	3	3
Victoria East HS Adam Wertman	2

Schools Launching 7
Totals	14	11
Total Rockets	25

I will post each days schedules in this blog. They can also be found in original format on the SystemsGo website Events page.

More event details will be available here after the completion of Saturday’s event.

If you follow this program and like to view the launches, Rockets 2018 will continue with one more launch series at this level in May. This launch will be held in Smith Point just south of Anahuac, Texas for schools in the Houston area, on the weekend of May 11-13, 2018. They currently have 56 vehicles scheduled for test by 15 schools at this site. If you have been to the Houston area launches in the past you may want to check out the SystemsGo website for information because this location is only in its second year for that area. Information and a map link are available.

The senior/graduate groups are tentatively scheduled to launch their Goddard level rockets at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico in late June. These are not available for public viewing or Livestream due to being tested on a military facility, but blog and SystemsGo updates will be posted online as available during that week.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org . Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Hope to see you at the races, nope, but I will race you for a rocket! #RideTheSky! #Launcher01 #ItISrocketScience #Rockets2018

Your local Recovery Team rocket Junkie wishes all the schools and students a picture perfect flight and recovery.

Fredericksburg’s Engineering/Rocket Program-Rockets 2018 Willow City Launch Week Pre-Launch Update

Today is Wednesday, April 25, and the juniors are a day away from testing their vehicle at Stewart’s Hillview Ranch in Willow City at Rockets 2018. They will be launching on Thursday, but the time will be determined on site. Also, this year the larger class volume meant two teams and two rockets.

According to Mr. Matthes, Engineering Instructor, both teams finished both rockets on time this year. They were due by the end of class, last Thursday. Both teams made use of the after school hours requirement in order to finish, with a couple of students stretching that to midnight in order to complete the work.

As of Monday, both vehicles were described as being in good shape by Mr. Matthes, with the only issue still in play, attempting to lighten the weight in order to increase speed.

Aside from that, Mr. Matthes had this to say about the upcoming launch, ” I do not rubber stamp any rocket. Failure is an option in the program as it is in life. If the students have a rocket that passes inspection, goes to the pad and gets tested they are successful…but the rocket can still fail. The existence of uncertainty is partly why the students are so invested in their rocket. It is because it is their solution without guarantee of meeting the project’s objective. They’ve poured their hearts into this project for five months and will get to see their ‘babies’ launch, just as parents hope to see the fruits of their parenting, without guarantees of outcome, launch their children into life. This is an inherent part of research. Paramount though is the fact that true failure only occurs if the process stops and lessons are not learned in the process.”

He also commented that he had seen GREAT looking rockets fail so he’s reticent about getting the students’ hopes up too much. And on the flip side, I have seen some rockets that I thought for sure would fall apart on the way down to the pad, and they amazed us all.

Flight Readiness Reviews(FRRs) were due by the end of class on yesterday, Tuesday. One team completed by the bell, but the other will be capping off at the beginning of class on Wednesday.

Robert Sanchez and Esten Cooke with their vehicle.

Pictured here are Ander Castaneda, Dawson Harkins, Cody Blohm, Deja Turkett, Cooper McDonald, Josh Handley, Gloria Burns, and Ethan Scott.

Team members Robert Sanchez and Gloria Burns.

Pictures provided by Katie Burns.

Some juniors and seniors will have an opportunity to work at the launch pads during the event. This affords them the chance to get experience prepping the rockets for flight and getting closer to the action. This is a privilege typically reserved only for seniors.

Unfortunately I was unable to obtain a picture and Team name from Team 1.

Pictured below is Team 2 with their rocket.

Meusebach (Team 2): Clockwise from #1 at the bottom. Cooper McDonald, Cody Blohm, Ander Castaneda, Deja Turkett, Josh Handley, Gloria Burns, Robert Zowie, Eduardo Memije, Ethan Scott, Dawson Harkins, and Rudy Avila show off their rocket just after completion last Wednesday evening, April 18th.

If you plan to attend any of this year’s launches please register for your attendance ticket at https://www.greateventseats.com/SystemsGo or they may be gotten at the gate. These are free but required for admittance to each site. Reserving them ahead at the website is preferred to obtaining them at the gate because the latter slows entrance to the site and may result in you missing the viewing of your intended launch.

You may also view any of these launches on Livestream. That link is available on the SystemsGo or at the following link from them: Here is the link to the live stream again. https://livestream.com/systemsgo

The launch schedules for each venue are available at http://www.systemsgo.org/events/ . I will post it here for each launch day as well. I want it to be as accurate as possible so I will refrain from posting schedules until the evening before each launch day in case there are any late changes.

Here is a PDF map link and Google graphic map link to the site. These links are available on the SystemsGo web site as well.

Please watch the SystemsGo website, SystemsGo Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/SystemsGoEducation/posts/?ref=notif , SystemsGo Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNews and this blog for upcoming information on these events.

This article is the fifth in a series, new for this school year ’17/’18 of updates that will follow the Fredericksburg STEM Academy/Rocket program. This school is a participant of the SystemsGo STEM program. This series of articles is intended to support, encourage, and challenge students in the program as they share their working status and accomplishments throughout the year in the program. These publications will be available for tags and re-posting.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org . Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

#RideTheSky #Rockets2018 #SystemsGo #FredricksburgEngineeringRocketProgram #Launcher01

Rockets 2018- Fredericksburg Launches Start in Willow City, Thursday

The SystemsGo team has returned from the Jal Launches of Rockets 2018, and immediately transitioned to Willow City on Monday as launches begin there Thursday for Fredericksburg Rockets 2018. Launches at the Stewart’s Hillview Ranch in Willow City will only be 3 days this year, Thursday, April 26 through Saturday, April 28. Teams are already well into all the preparation to make this another fantastic event.

This testing site covers the Fredericksburg and Hill Country area schools and all Texas schools not participating in the Houston launches. Currently there are 66 rockets scheduled for launch by 24 schools at that location.

Launches will begin Thursday through Saturday at approximately 8:30 a.m. and will last at least through 5:30 p.m. each day, wind weather and rocket readiness provided.

Phil Houseal will be providing Livestream from the site again this year so friends and family can watch the action online if they cannot attend the event. Joyce BK Abbey the voice of rockets will be keeping us informed and up to date throughout each day, as well as providing Rocket Trivia, and her special brand of on site entertainment. Be sure to also watch for interviews with the rocket teams.

Texas Concessions will be providing food, snacks, and refreshments at the launch site once again this year. Restrooms will be available on site as well.

There is an 80% chance of rain Wednesday evening, so be prepared for damp conditions on the range on Thursday if that actually materializes. Of course they still have a 10% chance in for Thursday too, but then all that may change again, because as we all know Texas weather doesn’t live by the weather man’s predictions. Therefore, it is always best to be prepared for all conditions as it may be cold in the morning, hot in the afternoon, windy, rainy, or sunny. Sunscreen, rain gear and a chair are recommended. Also be advised that weather will play a factor in launch time availability and may cause delays. Please be patient.

Here is the link to the live stream again. https://livestream.com/systemsgo

Map links to the site in both PDF and Google graphics are on the SystemsGo website at the following link:

http://www.systemsgo.org/events/

But just in case here is a picture of the PDF style map:

And here is the PDF map link and Google graphic map link to the site as well.

Pictures will be available here in this blog and in Facebook albums for you to view at the end of each days launches. Phil and SystemsGo will be posting throughout the event on Facebook as well. Links to both our Facebook pages are below.

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow

https://www.facebook.com/SystemsGoEducation/

Here is the schedule of schools launching Thursday. It boasts 10 schools and 19 rockets:

Thursday, April 26, 2018
School Name / Teacher	1/1	Trans
Fredericksburg HS Andrew Matthes		2
Granger HS Chaston Kubacak	1
Hamilton HS Tom Parrish	1
Harleton HS Hayland Hardy	1	1
Henrietta HS Sarah Dickey	1	1
Hollenstein CTC Rick Griffith		3
Maypearl HS Allex Wilson	1
New Diana HS Shawn Warden		1
Roosevelt HS Jared Warsing	2	1
Union Grove HS Greg Park	2	1
10
Schools Launching
Totals	9	10
Total Rockets	19

I will post each days schedules in this blog. They can also be found in original format on the SystemsGo website Events page.

More event details will be available here after the completion of Saturday’s event.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org . Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Hope to see you at the races, nope, but I will race you for a rocket! #RideTheSky! #Launcher01 #ItISrocketScience #Rockets2018

Your local Recovery Team rocket Junkie wishes all the schools and students a picture perfect flight and recovery.

Thursday, Launch Day 2 at WSMR

Today’s rocket launches at WSMR were nothing if not eventful. Four tests were conducted today, and though all managed to leave the rail in a manner of speaking, none were quite the launch any of them were working towards.

The Anahuac rocket was the first test this morning and actually did leave the rail at 8:00 a.m. Shortly into the flight, it developed a burn through the side casing of the motor which caused it to spiral and nose over into its descent. No recovery deployed and it entered the range like a big dart after which the engine casing blew off. Despite this, it was still the most successful launch of the week in terms of altitude. There are conflicting reports as to the actual altitude therefore I will not release that information until final confirmation at a later date.

Booker T. had two rockets this year. One was their normal senior class rocket, and the second was a colaberation by three of their graduates from last year, Dillan McDonald, Oswaldo Vasquez , and Leslie Cosme .

These three took over their failed rocket from last year, and rebuilt it attempting to fix all the issues that prevented it from leaving the rail in 2016. They took it upon themselves to do their own fund-raising and sponsorships in order to pay for their project. These three very determined individuals would not settle for leaving their rocket behind. This vehicle, known as Golden Eagle 5, was the first of the Booker T rockets on the rail today. It tested at 9:15 this morning.

Unfortunately, it was still not the flight they had hoped to achieve. The vehicle ignited, but the engine case sheered off at the bolts and hung on the rail. The rest of the rocket continued to lift off the rail under the power of Nitrous and flew only a small distance before tumbling through the air and coming in ballistic not far down the range. So in a matter of speaking they got off the rail this year, but not truly a whole rocket launch. In spite of this they are still to be congratulated for accomplishing this rocket on their own.

Golden Eagle 6 was Booker T’s second rocket for the day. It had good lift off of the rail, but also developed a side burn out near the top of the engine casing and also nosed dived into the ground. Preliminary reports from optics at WSMR have the vehicle achieving 138 meters (400′) and 14 seconds of flight.

Alamo Heights repaired their rocket from the failed launch yesterday and were able to retest at 2:23 this afternoon. This turned out to be the most unusual and entertaining launch of the week. The vehicle ignited and smoked on the rail. It appeared at first that it would not lift off, but it did begin to lift about half way up the rail, before falling back down, shearing off the load cell and landing on the deck. The engine continued to burn and make small bounces as it sat there. It began to show Nitrous leaks, but the engine fired again and it began lifting up the rail a second time. About half way up it faltered hanging in place for several seconds before finally clearing the top of the rail. It was a short 9 second flight before it too developed a side burn and began to tumble end over end toward the ground. It landed engine first, popped the nose cone off, and then the engine broke free sending the body into the ground where it began its own short flight as it expelled the remaining Nitrous, did a vertical hop off the ground and crashed. Even with this dramatic flight, the vehicle did achieve 134 meters(300′) before it’s demise.

The mission was then called complete, and clean up and pack up began as this was the last day of testing for SystemsGo, students, and WSMR personnel.

Safe travels to all schools heading home, tomorrow. It is back to Texas and the upcoming Fourth of July Holiday, tomorrow. As for tonight, the team enjoyed dinner, drinks, conversation and an early bed time.

Thursday, Final WSMR Launch Day

Today was the final day of testing at WSMR for SystemsGo student programs. Fredericksburg was the only official launch scheduled, with two remaining test times for any retests needed. Unfortunately it was a sad day for Fredericksburg as well. Their rocket had ignition but the injector failed therefore it never left the pad.

At first they were going to allow them a second test time at 12:30 p.m. but after inspection it was determined that they did not have enough spare components to repair the vehicle and so the second test was scrubbed.

At that point the SystemsGo team, Fredericksburg students and WSMR personnel cleaned up West Center 50 and left, officially ending our White Sands Missile Range launch operations.

This evening the team gets some much-needed rest time before returning to Fredericksburg. Except for Chelsea and Steve they are returning to Lubbock this evening and then to Fredericksburg on Friday evening. The team and the Fredericksburg students spent the afternoon seeing the New Mexico Museum of Air and Space and the White Sands National Monument, where they met the challenge of climbing and sliding down the dunes.

Tomorrow is back to Texas and a long Fourth of July Holiday weekend.

There were four out of seven rockets that left the rail this year. Seven out of seven would have been even better but this is still a good end to the season. The thing to bear in mind is that with all these tests whether they leave the rail or not there is always and element of further knowledge to be obtained from what transpired with each vehicle. That deducing, understanding and learning from both what went right and what went wrong whether the vehicle launched of not, and all the education and skills each student learned to get it to this point is the true important lesson.

Thank you so much to White Sands Missile Range for all the support, man power, time, education, entertainment, information and fun you provided in order for SystemsGo and these four schools to come out and test their vehicles. Your continued support in this education of future generations is highly appreciated.

The picture on this blog piece is of the Fredericksburg rocket team this morning prior to their vehicle test. It was provided by team member Zane Brown. Team members are from left to right: Katie Habecker, Link Millard, Dorian Jones, Garrett Ottmers, Nathan Weatherford, Alex Scudder, Zane Brown, and teacher, Andrew Matthes.

Late Update to Wednesday, Launch Day 2 at WSMR

This is just a quick update to my earlier post. Booker T Washington has decided not to go for a retest on either of their failed rockets today. That means Fredericksburg is tomorrow’s only attempted launch test. It’s T time is 8:30 a.m.

Monday, T-1 Briefing and Set up Day at WSMR Results in Slight Schedule Change

SystemsGo and the participating schools had a productive first day at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) today. They started the day with the T-1 Briefing. This is basically WSMR rules and regulations for the range. It covers all basic information such as weather conditions, wind speeds, airspace schedules and logistics.

WSMR personnel made introductions so all involved would know who they are and who to contact for help from the base. After the T-1 brief they teased that it was the “dumbed down” version for civilians. At the end Scott Netherland introduced the SystemsGo team and specified their roles with the organization.

By 10:30 they were headed down range to West Center 50 launch site. This is where the schools, SystemsGo, and WSMR personnel spent the afternoon getting ready for tomorrow’s launches. All equipment and rockets had to be set up and completed to meet the Tuesday testing schedule. Everything went well and it was a very productive day albeit a little long and quite hot.

Union Grove had a small problem with their vehicle that kept it from passing the pressure tests so in order to be sure that the schedule would stay on course tomorrow, they moved Alamo Height’s smaller rocket into the first launch window for tomorrow morning, because they had to have one on the rail and ready tonight to keep the schedule. Union was able to fix their problem and pass the second round of pressure tests so they will resume as the second launch in the morning.

Because of this tomorrow launch schedule is as follows:

8:30 a.m. Alamo Heights High School (1)
11:00 a.m. Union Grove High School
3:00 p.m. Alamo Heights High School (2)

Due to the 8:30 T time tomorrow will be an early day for SystemsGo team and schools. They will be leaving for the range by 5:30 a.m. Alamo Heights parents going to Range Control to view the launches will be leaving at 6:15 a.m. Subsequently parents with Union Grove will be heading to Range Control by 9:00 a.m.

If it is a perfect day and all goes well with no exceptions with each launch, then the tests should be complete by 3:00 p.m. Realistically this is a very tight launch sequence with little to no room for errors. As long as each rocket that loads the rail leaves without any issues at ignition this schedule will hold and therefore the next days will follow as currently scheduled. If one vehicle has to be taken down from the rail then the next launch window will be lost and the schedule will have to shift.

Therefore let us all hope and pray for the best for each school so that they may have a successful launch tomorrow and that all schedules hold true.

Here is the current preview of the launches scheduled for Wednesday. Tomorrow’s blog will have a final schedule for the day based on Tuesday’s test success.

Wednesday launch order: Anahuac, Booker T. Washington (1), Booker T. Washington (2)

Event details will continue to be available here. I will provide more information each morning as to how the schedule and other event details will progress for that day and how launches went for the schools testing that day. Pictures are not allowed on the range, but some pictures of teams getting ready to leave for the range with their vehicles might be available. If anything is available I will post it for your viewing pleasure.

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