SystemsGo New Mexico Rockets 2018 Launches Were a Great Success Saturday in Jal

Congratulations to SystemsGoNM on a great launch in Jal, NM and completion of their second year. Saturday, Seven schools attempted launching a total of 18 rockets, four of which were Transonics. These are new to this launch site this year as they only attempted 1 lb/1 mile vehicles at their inaugural launch last year. All four Transonics launched successfully and 10 of the 1 lb/1 mile vehicles launched, leaving only four vehicles unable to launch. That is quite an impressive start for the New Mexico program branch. Staff from SystemsGo in both Texas and New Mexico were very pleased with this year’s launch outcome.

Since the New Mexico program is still in the learning stages for both the schools and the launch personnel, having only four vehicles unable to clear for testing is really a great start for this second year, especially with the addition of Transonic rockets. But more learning to enhance and improve the program for schools and team is still in the works for next year and beyond.

Dignitaries from Chevron, Virgin Galactic and a New Mexico State Senator, along with press were on hand to observe, commend and report on the success of the day. Many were quite impressed with several problem solving fixes that Chelsea Burow, pad operator was able to institute in order to ensure the successful launch of some of the rockets. These were great teaching moments for both students and other personnel at the pad.

Stage 1 and 2 opened Friday afternoon for early rocket checks and clearing. Here are a few pictures from that event at the Jal Elementary School. Photos provided by Naira Mendoza, SystemsGo New Mexico.

Stage 1

Stage 2

The Jal High School rocket featured below on pad A was the first to be launched for the day, and the first Transonic up for the program. It was reported to have been a beautiful launch. They have a lot to be proud of with this vehicle.

Jal High School Transonic Rocket on Alpha Pad.

Lake Arthur High School Transonic on Bravo Pad.

These photos from the pad were sent in by Chelsea Burow, SystemsGo team member and pad operator.

Chelsea also reported that three students from Jal High School helped her at the pad, Saturday. She regrets that she cannot remember all their names, so as to not forget any one of them all names will be left out. According to Chelsea, these three students were a great asset to her at the pad. She said that they were not only helpful, but very polite and she was very happy to have them at the pad with her. They have told her that they plan to return to help again next year, which she thinks is an awesome idea.

Unfortunately things were quite busy for all personnel so I did not receive many photos for this article, but two links are posted below these pictures, where more can be found.

If you saw the picture of this new sign in Friday’s post, you probably figured it was big. This may help put it in perspective, as SystemsGo pad operator, Chelsea Burow, stands next to it.

The following two links are a good place to find photos from Saturday’s launch.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/SystemsGoEducation/posts/?ref=notif

https://www.facebook.com/pg/SystemsGoNM/posts/?ref=page_internal

This closes out the SystemsGoNM launch activities.

Tomorrow the team members from SystemsGo in Texas will be continuing operations in Willow City for the Fredericksburg launches. Dave Willden, SystemsGo New Mexico head, will be coming to help at these launches.

Rockets 2018 will continue with two more launches. The first will be held at the Stewart’s Hillview Ranch in Willow City, Texas, as mentioned above. It is host to the largest of the now three launch events. This year’s launch is a little earlier than usual with the event taking place on the weekend of April 26-28, 2018. This testing site covers the Fredericksburg and Hill Country area schools and all Texas schools not participating in the Houston launches.

Next, in Smith Point just south of Anahuac, Texas, the Houston area schools will launch, on the weekend of May 11-13, 2018. 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 is only the second year at this location. Information and a map link are available on the website.

The senior 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.

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 the launches except WSMR on Livestream. That link will be available on the SystemsGo website closer to the launch.

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.

Please watch the SystemsGo website, SystemsGo Facebook page, SystemsGo Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNews and this blog for upcoming information on these events.

More event details will be available here in upcoming days/weeks 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 launches! #ItISRocketScience #RideTheSky #Launcher01

Rockets 2018 Begins at Jal, New Mexico This Weekend!!!

Rockets 2018 begins this season’s launch series in Jal, New Mexico this Saturday, April 21, 2018 at a launch site on Phillips Hill Road.New Mexico High schools from Jal, Hobbs, Loving, Lovington, Hagerman and Lake Arthur, along with one Texas school, New Tech Odessa will have students participating in the program with 18 rockets scheduled to test. New Tech Odessa is joining the group in Jal this year, as it is much closer for them than any of the Texas sites they have gone to previously.

This is the second year for the SystemsGo New Mexico group, headed up by David Willden. After training in 2016 at the Fredericksburg launches in Willow City, the group began their launches at the new site in April of 2017 with 10 Tsiolkovsky Level (1 lb/ 1 mile) vehicles. This year, they will attempt 14 Tsiolkovsky Level and 4 Oberth Level (Transonic velocity while staying under 13000′) vehicles.

Friday, starting at 8:30 a.m. there is training for Range Safety Officers (RSO’s) for stage 2 and stage 3 volunteers. This is to train and build the volunteer base for the New Mexico events. Jal Elementary will also be set up for Stage 1 and Stage 2 as Early Check in begins at 1:00 p.m. on Friday and continues until 5:00 p.m.

Friday evening, Dave Willden is hosting a cook-out for volunteers, teachers, teams and admin at the Jal Country Club from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Burgers and hot dogs will be served.

Scott Netherland, Rebekah Hyatt, and Gene Garrett from SystemsGo Texas are leaving at noon Thursday, headed to Jal to participate in the event. Chelsea Burow, also SystemsGo Texas will be meeting them there on Friday evening.

This site will be open to public viewing of launches, as are all sites except White Sands Missile Range. A link to location information and a map link are available at http://www.systemsgo.org/events/ . The site will be open for admittance at 8:00 a.m. and launches will commence presumably at 8:30 a.m. Of course rockets are subject to winds, weather and workmanship, all of which can stall a launch. Come join in the action and cheer on these students. Admission is free, but the look on your students’ faces when their vehicle goes up and then is recovered, is far from priceless.

If you plan to attend Jal or any of this year’s launches please register for your attendance ticket at https://www.greateventseats.com/SystemsGo or they may be obtained at the gate. These are free but required for admittance to each site as they also include a waiver for access to the 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.

The schedule of launches for Jal is available at http://www.systemsgo.org/events/ . I will post it here for launch day. I want it to be as accurate as possible so I will refrain from posting it now in case there are any late changes.

A live feed for Saturday’s launches has not been confirmed yet, but I believe something may be in the works for that option. Information about the event, map links and schedule links are available at http://www.bringonthescience.com

Here is a reproduction of the map, but the one you will find online will be much clearer.

SystemsGo New Mexico does have a twitter feed they started last year in order to follow the launches. This link is still live, but right now there are no current tweets. That link is https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNM

Please watch the SystemsGo website, SystemsGo Facebook page, SystemsGo Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNews and this blog for upcoming information on theses events.

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 two more launches in April and May. Next the Stewart Ranch in Willow City, Texas will host the largest of the now three launch events on the weekend of April 26-28, 2018. 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.

The second 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.

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 launches!

Fredericksburg’s Engineering Rocket Program-Second Term Update #2 (February 16-April 13)

It is April and we have some catching up to do on the FHS Engineering program. It has been two months since our last update and quite a bit has been happening on all levels. Along with class work, launches start this month in Jal, New Mexico on April 21 and Fredericksburg (Willow City) April 26-28 so time is becoming a factor for the Junior and senior groups. Each group is working hard to meet their timelines. Rockets 2018 is the pinnacle event for the upper level groups, as their rocket projects are basically the final grade for the year.

The seniors have approximately 73 days until Redbird 19 is TENTATIVELY scheduled for testing at White Sands Missile Range, which is usually in the last week of June. This date is still not a permanent date until the Army finalizes, closer to that time. Mr. Matthes will announce that date when it becomes readily available. Their completion date for preliminary systems tests is usually two weeks before school ends. This would be May 18 which cuts them down to 59 days.

More on these groups and their current status reports will be later in the article.

Freshman participated in a field trip on March 1st, in which they visited Southwest Research Institute(SwRI), the Center for the Intrepid, and the UTSA VIZlab. At the Center for the Intrepid, the students were able to see biomedical equipment at work helping wounded Veterans in their recovery. Along with the engineering aspect of this, Mr. Matthes hoped that they took away a new respect for our military servicemen and women and the full extent of the sacrifices they make each day for our country’s safety.

Former FHS Engineering Alumni, Drake Horstman, was the students’ guide when they visited the UTSA VIZlab, toured the campus, engineering lab and community areas. During the visit, Drake, provided entertainment and wisdom coupled with numerous stories about his experiences in the FHS Engineering Program. Inside the lab, the students were able to see several visual interaction devices.

At Southwest Research Institute, students learned technical information about engines, modifications and fuel efficiency. The content here was a little over their knowledge base, and may have overwhelmed the students a little, according to Mr. Matthes. In spite of that, it was still a good visit for the students, and the coordinator at SwRI commented about their behavior stating, “they are better than a lot of the college students who come through.”

These visits are designed to expose the students to different aspects in the engineering fields. The impressions they take from here will help them make decisions down the road on whether engineering is for them, and if so, help them determine a particular area of interest.

The Freshmen also participated in their first Critical Design Review (CDR). They were tasked with presenting solutions to fix the damaged launch tower for the Red Bird rockets. This gives them practice on presentation skills and feedback on designs for their project.

Mr. Matthes stated that, “the students may have felt “roasted” with constructive criticism and feedback. But, that they should know, that it is part of improvement and growth of design and not personal.” He mentioned that this was also discussed briefly at the end of the trip to SwRI, by the hosting engineer.

The sophomores have advanced well in the curriculum and are presently several weeks ahead of their current deadlines. Their current focus is on dimensioning objects, denoting measurements and creating fabrication notes. Due to this, their proficiency has advanced well.

Mr. Matthes is quite impressed with the Juniors selection of a class name. Here is how he describes it,”The juniors named their class “Conatus” which translates from Latin, to impulse and means striving. From a historical philosophy origin it relates to the nature of something to continue its existence.”

The pressure is on with an April 19th rocket completion date looming ever closer. The rocket must be completed one week prior to their April 26^th launch, because after it is completed they must also complete a Flight Readiness Review which often uncovers errors and problems that must be resolved. This week provides adequate time for those things to happen.

According to Mr. Matthes neither team has anything that quite resembles a rocket as of yet, but each is working through a pile of parts that arrived. Most were not ordered until the end of March which was quite late, but each group began working with tangible parts the end of last week.

Team #2 decided to make use of Monday’s teacher in-service day, by putting in about four hours of work. Shown below from team #2 are clockwise starting from the bottom, Cooper McDonald, Gloria Burns, Ethan Scott, and Dawson Harkins as they take measurements off the back-end of the rocket and motor system.

Both teams do have a work in progress at this point. According to Mr. Matthes, “Pressure makes diamonds and rockets.”

Incidentally, another incentive for each comes from SystemsGo. A flawless flight and perfect recovery may afford that team the chance to re-fly their vehicle with a different fuel grain in order to collect data for SystemsGo.

The miniature Teststand is an ongoing project for the juniors as well. They are using LabVIEW programming as a means to start ignition and measure thrust, as well as using 3D modeling in order to develop a unique physical Teststand model. The class is split into working groups of 3. According to Mr. Matthes, “They are on track to have this done by the end of school and I am excited to see what they come up with.”

Seniors are progressing well with Redbird 19, wind tunnel and the large Teststand development.

Construction is beginning on Redbird 19 now that parts are returning from Heartland Enterprises. According to Mr. Matthes the parts, “look beautiful, and most parts are in.” Now that parts are available there is a bullet list of accomplishments to be achieved including, overlaying the nose cone in fiberglass, creating a mold and then pouring the fuel grain, making a custom hose for the injection valve, testing recovery chute deployment, integrating avionics into the vehicle, and Mr. Jenkins is in the process of manufacturing the payload.

Here Harrison Spisak, Bryce Erwin, and Sergio Walle are checking the fit of the injector, nozzle and retaining ring in their fuel grain liner.

Currently wind tunnel is well underway, as students are receiving and ordering parts. The program is nearing completion and the electronics used for the drag testing measurement has arrived. Hunter Smith, a SpaceX programmer at the McGregor facility has been assisting Rebecca Sechrist through a Skype session. He has been providing analysis and comprehension in areas he has already assisted, as well as a starting point from which to move ahead. According to Mr. Matthes, “The students are making headway but must begin to make a push in order to finish this outstanding design by summer.”

Deadlines are quickly evolving for Teststand, as the group’s progress here is steady but slow. They have installed a flow meter to directly measure Nitrous oxide. Load cells which measure thrust have been changed out and fuel grains have also been readied for testing.

The stand itself is nearing a test ready state. New to this year’s stand are changes in the injection system. The new system will allow more controls of the flow. A parent plate has been designed by students and fabricated by another local machine shop, Kager Industries, which will hold a smaller injection disc allowing students the ability to change out the disc which controls the rate of flow. The plate can be installed as soon as the 0.05″ holes have been drilled through. Next, the LabVIEW program will be fully tested on the stand. Afterwards, a cold flow test will be conducted in order to measure the oxidizer flow rate and determine if the size and pattern of holes in the new disc are correct. If the cold flow tests are successful, then hot fire tests can begin.

The Baby Bird Teststand is still on hold until further notice.

SystemsGo hosted a BBQ dinner event for the neighbors in Willow City. Seniors, Bryce Erwin and Sergio Walle, pictured below, spoke at the event. Their purpose was to educate attendees about the educational process of the program and how it relates to the upcoming launches, as well as to share their own experiences in the program.

Additionally, Harrison Spisak and Corbin Smajstrala spoke to the Morning Rotary last month on similar subjects.

Mr. Matthes would personally like to thank all four of these young men for committing to these events and participating in them. In both cases, participants and SystmesGo staff commended them on their exceptional performances.

This article is the fourth for the 2017/2018 school year in a series of periodic updates that will follow 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.

2017/2018 Fall Session Hi Lights Wrap Up for Fredericksburg’s Engineering/Rocket Program-(Nov. 10-Dec. 22)

Next Friday, December 22, the Fredericksburg High School Engineering/Rocket Program will dismiss for Christmas break. When they do, five weeks will have passed since the last update on their program. This is a busy group, and there is plenty to report on their learning and progress as we wrap up the fall semester.

The Freshman have been learning about production/manufacturing engineering and have recently completed their project which was an orange juice manufacturing factory design. The class split into working groups of four because of the complexity of the problem. Their product goal for the plant was to take raw material and produce packaged juice in palletized product bundles ready for sale. According to Mr. Matthes, “It was a successful endeavor with lots of different results when it came to the challenging research it required.”

On Friday, December 15, they presented their latest project over engineering fluidity. Each student was expected to work independently to create new launch lugs for the senior level rocket. Their new lug designs need to be more aerodynamic than the current lugs. Each student was able to show what they were capable of on their own, instead of having the co-dependency of fellow students. This solo venture challenged them to create a multiview drawing of their own new design, as well as featuring their understanding of units of measurement and how they all work together, something that will be of great significance for their final project in the future, which is to research the math and then design a hybrid rocket motor. A highly significant amount of math and even more units will require their careful attention in that upcoming project . What they are learning as they work through this propulsion/aerospace problem will become relevant to them again when they begin their junior studies in 19 months. Therefore it is an important study in which to end the course.

Just to remind everyone, the Sophomore students are still working in a self paced manner in this year’s class. Therefore a good growth mark for them in their class progress is 3D printing, which they have recently begun. They have also shown marked achievement in their Autocad, Dimensioning and Isometric drawing skills. In part this is due to their receptiveness to all the constructive feedback.

Luke Duderstadt working on Autocad.

“They have advanced tremendously in their attention to detail, ability to see things with greater special awareness, and pride in workmanship. The transformation has been fun to witness,” states Mr. Matthes.

LabVIEW programming is an important focus for the juniors. At this point, Mr. Matthes says it is too early to tell their final success in this area, but so far, they are progressing well.

Fluids and aerodynamic drag have been the focus of their studies related to rockets these past five weeks. After learning these new skills, they were able to test them on the design and development of their Generation 3 rockets. In order to do this, they had to create a rocket that was stable with exactly a ‘margin’ of 1 while reaching 1800 feet in RockSim simulation and design software. Students were able to launch their actual Gen 3 rockets on Friday, Dec. 15 after they had in class rocket presentations and evaluations that morning. Additionally they were further challenged with a short deadline in which to create these rockets. They met this head on and were ready for presentations.

“It was collectively the best group of Gen 3 flights I have seen in years,” reports Mr. Matthes.

Bradley Plaza and Carl Wilger prepare to launch their Generation 3 rocket.

Jabin Gipson and Rudy Avila model their Generation 3 rocket on launch day.

They will detail the many lessons they learned, including results from mistakes in design, construction, evaluation process, and the significance of attention to detail in their post mission analysis (PMA). As they begin their second semester project, all these lessons will be critical learning tools in the success of this larger rocket.

Mr. Matthes reported, ” I was thoroughly impressed with all of them. It was the kind of work ethic that will make their senior year a success if they can manage to keep up the motivation and focus.”

Critical design reviews (CDR) are the main focus for seniors on all four of their projects, which include the Red Bird #19 Rocket, a wind tunnel, the NASA large motor test stand, and the Small HyperTek interface test stand, known as Baby Bird. Currently the group is running short on time their schedules and task lists are not reflecting all that they should. There is a possibility that they are either not aware of all that they have missed, or they are really close to being ready. Mr. Matthes is unsure at this point which one it is.

Pictured here is the seniors’ flow straightener prototype for their wind tunnel. It was 3D printed on a Makerbot.

They are scheduled to hold a preliminary design review with alumni at 10:00 on Wednesday, January 10^th, here in the classroom. A full CDR will be due at the end of January.

“One potential reality is that if it becomes evident there is not enough time for everything, some project(s) may require postponing. We are hoping for the best,” states Mr. Matthes.

On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 10:30 in Mr. Matthes’ classroom, last year’s alumni will be presented with their banner for flying the Red Bird #18 at White Sands Missile Range. Seniors will have a question and answer session with alumni to share experiences and receive advice.

At 7:00 p.m. also on Friday the 22nd, all alumni of the Fredericksburg Aeroscience/Engineering program are invited to come to Hondo’s and join Mr. Williams and Mr. Matthes for visiting over dinner and drinks. It will be casual, come and go as you like bringing significant others and friends as desired.

Mr. Matthes reminds all program students, “In January, the spring program begins and deadlines and target dates for their projects become highly important in order to meet projected launch dates.”

NEW YOU (National Engineers Week Youth Outreach United) continues its progress in planning the 4^th-8^th grade engineering outreach event to be held on February 17^th. Look for more in the newspaper and students of those grades bring home flyers in January.

This article is the Third for the 2017/2018 school year in a series of monthly updates that will follow 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.

2017/2018 Fredericksburg’s Engineering/Rocket Program-September Hi Lights

The new school year is three weeks into session and with it, the Fredericksburg High School Engineering Program has begun working toward new goals.

This year (Fall semester) there are actually classes representing each grade level. This is different from last year in that there were two classes of Freshman in the fall and two classes of Sophomores in the spring. There will be a class of 12 Freshman in the fall and another class of 12 in the spring, and a class of 16 Sophomores in the fall and another class of 12 in the spring.

The Freshman classes began by learning about the design and development loop. This is important because it gives them an understanding on how industry approaches problems in order to develop new innovation. Leadership and teamwork have been a strong topic of class discussion as well as exercises to put these traits into practice. This week in class they are testing cardboard structures they have built as part of the structural project part of their class.

Pictured: Kyle Kuhlman, Andrew Kendrick, and Gavin West.

Pictured: Luke Tucker, Benji Robles, and Kolby Fryburger.

Pictured: Paige Guzy, Emily Ma, Evertt Borton.

Pictured: Nehemiah Cabral, Sadie Eidson, and Eli Rode.

Here the whole class shows off their cardboard structures for testing.

Sadie Eidson with an unofficial test of her structure post ‘real’ testing while Gavin West looks on awaiting collapse without satisfaction.

Pictured here is this semester’s Freshman class: Back Row: Kolby Fryburger, Luke Tucker, Everett Borton, Gavin West, Nehemiah Cabral, Benji Robles. Front Row: Eli Rode, Andrew Kendrick, Kyle Kuhlman, Sadie Eidson, Paige Guzy, Emily Ma.

Mr. Matthes reports, “They are doing very well.”

Sophomores are practicing drawing multi-views by hand. Students are able to work at their own pace this year, as long as they meet scheduled deadlines on assignments. This allows for those that learn at a faster pace to advance in the curriculum a little sooner. It should also allow them to have more time to become proficient on 3D modeling which will be a skill they will need as they move up in future classes. Soon they will begin the basics of drawing on AutoCAD. Due to the individual pacing, one student was able to begin AutoCAD yesterday.

Pictured here is this semester’s Sophomore class: Back Row: Noah Downey; Tommy Johnson, Gavin Eckert, Lane Wallendorf, Ryan Scroggie, Landon West, Clay Crouse. Front Row: Dalton Waters, Blake Boubel, Ryan Davis, Luke Duderstadt, Ryan Majors, Chad Braden, Gerry Balderas. Not Pictured here are Josephine Shaw and Alek Vasquez.

Junior and Senior classes will encompass both semesters as one class group each. There are 22 Juniors in the program and 10 Seniors.

Due to the accelerated class schedule implemented at FHS last year, most one year courses are now accomplished in one semester. Because of this, the Junior year course study is actually two classes in one spread out over both semesters. Class time is currently split between two courses of study. In the first half of class they are beginning the basics of hybrid rocket propulsion and the book learning of the math to model it. In the second half of the class, they have researched advanced technology and dimensional analysis.

According to Mr. Matthes, “Many of them reflected afterward that they have a better understanding of math, how to work with units, what the units mean, and how the math has meaning and can be worked like a puzzle. They are very excited and extremely sharp. They work effectively as a group and seem to have great chemistry together.”

Pictured here is this year’s Junior class: Back Row: Jabin Gipson, Cooper McDonald, Ander Castaneda, Gabe Voorhees, Jose Escalante, Clay Ellebracht, Dawson Harkins. Middle Row: Jana Brockmann, Robert Sanchez, Esten Cooke, Gloria Burns, Carl Wilger, Nicholas Rodriguez, Lucio Castro, Cody Blohm. Front Row: Eduardo Memije, Robert Zowie, Brad Plaza, Ethan Scott, Deja Turkett, Rudy Avila, Josh Handley.

The Seniors are a busy and ambitious group this year. They have taken on four large endeavors including: The Red Bird #19 Rocket, a wind tunnel, the NASA large motor test stand, and the Small HyperTek interface test stand, known as Baby Bird.

The Red Bird #19 will actually be a modified version of the Red Bird #17 from two years ago which did not leave the rail due to the injection failing. They will be rebuilding the propulsion and injection systems in order to correct the past problems with the rocket that kept it from launching in 2016. –Small editorial comment here: As we have seen with other schools in past years at WSMR, this does not mean an easy fix. Quite often trying to correctly discern and correct another team’s issues on an unsuccessful vehicle can be harder than starting from scratch. It will be interesting to follow them and see what they find and how these new modifications affect this year’s flight test at WSMR. FHS Engineering Project Leadership for Red Bird #19 is Chief Engineer, Harrison Spisak, and Project Manager, Bryce Erwin.

The Wind Tunnel is new for this year. This device is for testing drag on an object. To do this, the system uses a fan to create artificial wind which is forced over the object to create a drag. FHS Engineering Project Leadership for the wind tunnel is Chief Engineer, Pierce Vasquez, and Project Manager,Rebecca Sechrist.

Testing on Baby Bird, the Hypertek test stand continues this year. The purpose of this test stand, as highlighted in the last year’s updates, is to test a fuel grain system designed and developed by the students to interface with the hypertek injector and tank. Original plans were that three successful tests on this test stand would result in the opportunity for the seniors in the Fredericksburg Engineering Program to fly a new Hybrid student developed rocket at Willow City. This year’s team is continuing testing and development for this goal. FHS Engineering Project Leadership for this test stand is Chief Engineer, Evan Knapp, and Project Manager, Sergio Walle.

Testing also continues on the NASA Test stand for large motors. Even though there is no new grant from NASA this year, there are plenty of materials acquired from last year’s grant to continue testing. FHS Engineering Project Leadership for this test stand is Chief Engineer, Joey Leal, and Project Manager, Corbin Smajstrla.

Mr. Matthes commented about this year’s seniors, “The group, already has plans set to come in this weekend to begin their endeavors. They seem both excited about the projects and motivated to accomplish them.”

Last school year the program implemented a Senior out of class work schedule. Students signed a contract requiring them to commit to a set amount of overtime/after class work time in order to meet all deadlines and complete their rocket/projects for the year. The group is currently establishing a working schedule in order to implement these hours.

Pictured here is this year’s Senior class: 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.

You may have seen the following information on a flyer your Engineering student brought home inviting you to the FHS open house that was held on Monday, September 11. If you no longer have it or were not able to attend, Mr. Matthes has asked that you take note of the following date and time for:

FHS Engineering Night

SAVE THE DATE:

When: Monday, SEPTEMBER 25^TH, 6:00PM

Why: Learn about the nationally recognized FHS Engineering/Rocket Program

Who: Anyone – tell other parents and your friends, even if they aren’t in the program until next semester or aren’t a part of it yet. It is available to interested and current students as well as parents and interested community members.

Where: Auditorium, plan on sitting up front for an “A”. Address is 1107 S. Highway 16

What: Information/Order forms on Polos, t-shirts, decals and lanyards.

Including: Program objectives, overview of classes, media, and special guest alumni via Skype.

Follow Us, the FHS Engineering Program

You and your student are also invited to use the forms of media communication listed below to receive information and updates on all things Engineering.

The first is REMIND, (a text format) where you will find event notifications, updates, organizational coordination, and brief positive news provided on the program.

Text to 81010 the message @fhseng2021 for freshman Principles of Applied Engineering class

Text to 81010 the message @fhseng2020 for sophomores Engineering Design and Presentation 1

Text to 81010 the message @fhseng2019 junior Engineering Design and Presentation 2

Text to 81010 the message @fhseng2018 seniors Engineering Design & Problem Solving, Scientific Research and Design

Mr. Matthes sincerely hopes that students and parents will more actively follow and invest in the Engineering Program here at FHS. One method to help with this is providing updates related to engineering and our Engineering Program through social media. These will contain postings related to student activities as well as industry activity. Familiarity with current events and current research in industry is a major source of inspiration and exposure to potential future endeavors.

fhseng

https://www.instagram.com/fhseng/?hl=en

FHS S.T.E.M. Academy

@engineeringfhs

https://www.facebook.com/engineeringfhs/

The entire Engineering Program was invited to a movie night at the engineering classroom, Wednesday evening, September 13 at 7:00 p.m. They viewed the movie the Matrix. Mr. Matthes believed that a correlation between the students and the movie characters could be drawn and that could be beneficial to them. “It is my hope they recognize the metaphor for their own lives and begin to believe in themselves as I believe them, as Morpheus believes in Neo.” About 20 were able to attend.

This article is the first for the 2017/2018 school year in a series of monthly updates that will follow 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.

Fredericksburg STEM Academy/Rocket Program-Launch Report from Rockets 2017 Willow City Launch Week and Red Bird #18 Update

The Fredericksburg STEM Academy junior class rocket completed a successful launch at Fredericksburg Rockets 2017 on Thursday. They were able to recover their vehicle intact and analyze data.

Unfortunately they did not achieve the speed of sound as hoped. Instead it reached 9300′ traveling 994′ per second, or 678 mph, which is 89% of Mach at 743 mph.

Here is the Fredericksburg STEM Academy team going over checks in Stage 3 before launch.

Rocket #52 as tagged by SystemsGo is seen here headed to the pad.

Here it is vertical on Pad A going through final preparations for launch.

And finally sailing skyward.

The payload of slime mold did show differences in growth. The sample on board the vehicle grew less than its sister culture contained in a similar environment at the launch. Students noted that the payload sample experienced some shock upon landing based on the its displacement. The vehicle fared quite well. The drogue deployed but the main parachute did not deploy. This was caused by the shear pins not giving way. This function could have been tested prior to flight if they had finished their vehicle earlier leaving time to conduct additional testing. Upon landing one fin chipped and another fin was dislodged from the vehicle but all were recovered.

Juniors present their Post Mission Analysis tomorrow, Thursday, June 1 at FISD’s Central Office board room beginning at 9:00.

This will conclude this year’s reports on the juniors. We will pick up with them next year as seniors when they begin their Goddard level project and attempt to launch at White Sands Missile Range.

Seniors are in decent shape on Red Bird #18. The vehicle is undergoing final welding at SRM Manufacturing. Nosecone is wrapping up well. The current set back is the fuel grain. After conducting extensive testing to get the correct percentage of the two constituents and creating multiple samples at those percentages, when the students mixed their full volume of HTPB (rubber) fuel, it set too quickly and they were unable to pour it. Students created more samples yesterday of the same percentages but at different temperatures trying manipulate the cure time. They are receiving a borrowed supply of one chemical from Alamo Heights High School to complete the fuel grain on a second attempt.

The seniors will also be presenting tomorrow, Thursday, June 1 at FISD’s Central Office board room beginning at 12:15. They will giving a status update on the development of the Red Bird #18 rocket that is scheduled to launch at White Sands Missile Range in late June, as well as covering the progress and testing on the hybrid rocket motor test stand.

All are welcome to observe both presentations.

This article is the tenth in a series, new for this school year ’16/’17 of updates that have followed 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.

Subsequent updates will continue to follow the Senior/Graduates and the progress of the Red Bird #18 rocket through June and until after launch at WSMR in late June.

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.

#Rockets2017 #SystemsGo #FredricksburgSTEMAcademy #Launcher01

Rockets 2017-Saturday Report-Williams Retirement- Sunday Schedule

Saturday was another great day of launches. Let’s see who is paying attention, we had 21 rockets on the schedule and we launched 23. The answer is later in the story. After storms came through the area over night and early this morning, causing a two-hour rain delay, rockets finally started flying around lunch time. The sky finally opened a window of opportunity.

Even though launches started late, Stages 1 and 2 continued on schedule. This meant that when weather finally permitted launching, the spectator tent where rockets wait to go down to Stage 3, was full with more waiting than I have ever seen there.

This evening after launches were completed for the schools, two more rockets were sent up as a tribute to retired FHS STEM teacher and SystemsGo founder Brett Williams. They were both recovered in short order and taken to the Willow City Fire House where a dinner was hosted in his honor. He developed the program that all these schools use to teach the STEM curriculum across Texas and now New Mexico as well.

Several people gave a tribute address honoring and telling stories about Mr. Williams, including Scott Netherland, Andrew Matthes, Rebekah Hyatt, Dave Cambell, and Tom Moser.

Tom is a retired NASA rocket program member who became involved with the program. He served NASA as Deputy Associate Administrator for space station and space flight. These were just one of his many duties at NASA. Tom is one on a list of many influential people who Brett recruited to support the program over the years. After his address, he presented Brett with a NASA Citation for his work and contribution to the STEM program and student education.

Below is the launch schedule for today, Sunday. There are 5 schools launching a total of 16 rockets.

Sunday, May 21, 2017
School Name	# 1st Level Tsiolkovsky	# 2nd Level Oberth
Alamo Heights High School Colin Lang		3
Hardin-Jefferson High School Mike Fogo	3	1
Manor High School Will Davis	3
New Tech Odessa Richard Linder	1	1
Roosevelt High School Jared Warsing	3	1


5
Schools Launching
Totals	11	7
May 15^th Total Rockets	18

The following is a link to the album of pictures from today’s launch. Have a look, you and your school rocket just might be in there.

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow/media_set?set=a.1479031692117957.1073741890.100000334203350&type=3&pnref=story

Here is the second album link to the pictures from Brett William’s party.

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow/media_set?set=a.1479469515407508.1073741891.100000334203350&type=3&uploaded=36

Good luck to all the schools launching on Sunday. I will update the blog after we complete our day again tomorrow. Here is the link to the live stream again.

http://livestream.com/systemsgo

Please remember that although there is no charge for the event, and these launches are open to public viewing, parking and seating is limited due to safety requirements. For this reason, SystemsGo has a provided a link for you to pre-order tickets for those in your party. That link can be found at SystemsGo Events page. This also provides SystemsGo with a way to monitor the number of people in attendance each year. This is in no way meant to discourage your attendance, but is instead to help them provide a great experience for students and spectators, while doing all possible to monitor safety issues and attendance numbers at any one time during the launches.

Event details will be available here each day of the event. Daily reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will also be posted.

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.

#SystemsGo #Rockets2017 #FredericksburgSTEMAcademy #Launcher01 #SystemsGoNewMexico

Rockets 2017-Friday Day 2 Report and Saturday Schedule

Friday had another slow start for rockets. The ceiling was a low again. SystemsGo was able to load 24 out of 25 rockets listed on the schedule onto the rails and launched all 24.The 25th was an abort by one of the schools.

Here are a few of those smiling faces taking their rockets down to the pad.

The north end of the range seemed to be the prime spot for landings today, which kept recovery in that area fairly busy. Unfortunately that left those of us on the south end a little bored so we went to help our northern friends quite often. So then how many recovery teams does it take to find one rocket?

As is normal, Transonics amassed most of those still missing in the field. They also made up the bulk of the final ones shot due to waiting on that cloud ceiling to clear. Coordinates for those have been generated, and the search is ongoing.

David Willden and the group from New Mexico helped out until around noon when they had to launch themselves back towards home. There help was greatly appreciated, and for them it was also further training for next year’s second launch series in Jal.

Phil Houseal was busy interviewing spectators, students and volunteers today. He even managed to catch me and coerce me into another interview this year. We seem to have a continued game between us. We both prefer to be behind the camera instead of in the pictures, so I make sure to catch him and get him in the pictures I post, and he catches me and makes me talk on camera.

Tomorrow is another big day on the range, with a full docket of rockets and extra curricular activities after launches are done as well. It will be a busy and long day. It should be fun though. Hopefully the cloud ceiling will open up earlier so we can start those rockets in a more continuous pattern. And the rain can hold off until after dark and all will be good.

Below is the launch schedule for tomorrow, Saturday. There are 7 schools launching a total of 22 rockets tomorrow.

Saturday, May 20, 2017
School Name	# 1st Level Tsiolkovsky	# 2nd Level Oberth
Akins High School Joyce Sayce	5
Fabens High School Manny Moreno	3	2
Henrietta High School Doug Underwood	2	1
Maypearl High School James Herrod	1
McGregor High School Chris Kuhl	1	1
North Lamar High School Kathy Stewart	1
Northwest High School Elizabeth Mitias	4	1
7
Schools Launching
Totals	17	5
May 14^th Total Rockets	22

The following is a link to the album of pictures from today’s launch. Have a look you and your school rocket just might be in there.

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow/media_set?set=a.1477962108891582.1073741889.100000334203350&type=3&uploaded=221

Good luck to all the schools launching on Saturday. I will update the blog after we complete our day again tomorrow. Here is the link to the live stream again.

http://livestream.com/systemsgo

Please remember that although there is no charge for the event, and these launches are open to public viewing, parking and seating is limited due to safety requirements. For this reason, SystemsGo has a provided a link for you to pre-order tickets for those in your party. This also provides SystemsGo with a way to monitor the number of people in attendance each year. This is in no way meant to discourage your attendance, but is instead to help them provide a great experience for students and spectators, while doing all possible to monitor safety issues and attendance numbers at any one time during the launches.

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

Event details will be available here each day of the event. Daily reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will also be posted.

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.

#SystemsGo #Rockets2017 #FredericksburgSTEMAcademy #Launcher01 #SystemsGoNewMexico

Fredericksburg Rockets 2017-Thursday Day 1 Report – Friday Schedule

Thursday went well. It started off a little slow due to clouds and a low ceiling. Fortunately, it burned off in the afternoon and launches started lining up with only intermittent delays. it was basically a warm, humid, and windy day, but turned out well in the end for rockets. Recovery went fairly well with only a few Transonics still in the field at the end of the day. Hopefully they will still be recovered before the end of the weekend.

Original Fredericksburg High School STEM teacher and SystemsGo originator and program developer was on site today. He visited with folks, observed how things were working and even worked the Pad until around lunch. It was a nice treat having him on site a while again. He even said he might drop by again before the weekend is over.

We also had working guests from the new SystemsGo New Mexico. Director David Willden was helping a mission control as well as one recovery team that was from his group too. #SystemsGoNewMexico

The original schedule listed 22 rockets, but the final total launched was 19.

Below is the launch schedule for tomorrow, Friday. There are 7 schools launching a total of 25 rockets tomorrow.

Friday, May 19, 2017
School Name	# 1st Level Tsiolkovsky	# 2nd Level Oberth
Buinger CTE Academy Michael Skrzynski	2	3
Hamilton High School Seaborn Achby	1	1
Marble Falls High School Leslie Alexander	2	1
RL Turner High School Bill Richardson	2
Tom Moore (Ingram) High School David Bunch	4
Union Grove High School Greg Park	2	1
University High School Dennis Oubre	4	2
7
Schools Launching
Totals	17	8
May 13^th Total Rockets	25

The following is a link to the album of pictures from today’s launch. Have a look you and your school rocket just might be in there.

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow/media_set?set=a.1476991132322013.1073741888.100000334203350&type=3&uploaded=143

Good luck to all the schools launching on Friday. If I get a chance to do some updates during the day tomorrow , then I will but don’t count on it. It will probably just be one at the end of day. Here is the link to the live stream again.

http://livestream.com/systemsgo

Please remember that although there is no charge for the event, and these launches are open to public viewing, parking and seating is limited due to safety requirements. For this reason, SystemsGo has a provided a link for you to pre-order registration tickets for those in your party. This also provides SystemsGo with a way to monitor the number of people in attendance each year. This is in no way meant to discourage your attendance, but is instead to help them provide a great experience for students and spectators, while doing all possible to monitor safety issues and attendance numbers at any one time during the launches. These tickets are FREE. They can be found on the SystemsGo Events page. Look for the little ticket icon that says, “Admit One”.

Event details will be available here each day of the event. Daily reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will also be posted.

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.

#SystemsGo #Rockets2017 #FredericksburgSTEMAcademy #Launcher01 #SystemsGoNewMexico

Rockets 2017-Houston, Done-Fredericksburg Launches Start Tomorrow in Willow City-Thursday Schedule Included

The SystemsGo team arrived home around 11:00 Sunday night from the Houston Rockets 2017 launches. They had a good event with over with 39 rockets tested at the new location in Smith Point, south of Anahuac. They transitioned to Willow City on Monday as launches begin there tomorrow, Thursday for Fredericksburg Rockets 2017.

Set up and preparations have been underway all week to insure a great event at Hillview Ranch again this year.

The schedule boasts 26 schools and 87 rockets for this year’s event.

Launches will be Thursday through Sunday between 8:30 and 5:30. Phil Houseal will be there providing Livestream from the site again this year so friends and family can watch the action online if they cannot be at the event. Joyce BK Abbey the voice of rockets will be keeping us informed and up to date throughout each day.

As in past years, Texas Concessions will be providing food, snacks, and refreshments. Restrooms will be available on site.

There are chances of rain all weekend, as well as sun and wind so be prepared for either while you are in attendance. 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.

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.

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:

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

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

Here is the schedule of schools launching tomorrow.It boasts 7 schools and 22 rockets:

Thursday, May 18, 2017
School Name	# 1st Level Tsiolkovsky	# 2nd Level Oberth
Birdville CTAL Lynn Barrett	5	2
Fredericksburg High School Andrew Matthes		2
Granger High School Chaston Kubacak	1
Harleton HS Karen Brasher	1	1
Hollenstein Career & Tech Center Richard Griffith		2
Kingwood High School Louis Mascolo	5	1
New Diana High School Shawn Warden	1	1
7
Schools Launching
Totals	13	9
May 12^th Total Rockets	22

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

Good luck to all the schools and students.

Event details will be available here each day as the event unfolds in Willow City at Hillview Ranch. Reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures, and some editorial content will also be posted at the end of day. If I get a chance to do some updates during the event each day, then I will but don’t count on it. I work recovery so I am usually busy.

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

Have a great evening. I will see you at T minus 10 tomorrow morning.

#Rockets2017 #SystemsGo #Launcher01 #FredericksburgSTEMAcademy

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