Booker T Washington High School – Page 9

WSMR Rocket Launches Fast Approaching

The SystemsGo Rocket program now transitions to Goddard level rockets. These rockets and their subsequent launches at WSMR (White Sands Missile Range) are the culmination of all the skills the students have learned throughout their years in the STEM program. This is the final senior project for those schools that participate in this level of the SystemsGo program.

Launches are scheduled for June 27 through July 1. The group will travel out to WSMR on Sunday, June 26, and back home again on Saturday, July 2.

These launches have been anywhere from June to mid August in past years, with multiple rescheduling happening all the way up to time to leave because of Army necessity. Actually having a fairly concrete date this year means students have to be on their game and get their vehicles completed on a tight schedule. According to Fredericksburg’s STEM teacher, Andrew Matthes, their group has a deadline of today, Friday, June 10 to have their rocket completed and ready to travel. Other schools involved most likely have similar dead lines.

As of Wednesday, June 1, the class was reported by Mr. Matthes to be on schedule with final modifications being made in all areas, including the following:

The after section for the motor is at Rode’s Welding for attachment to the 10′ long Nitrous tank
Avionics is installing the payload in the forward skirt
Propulsion has had a successful pour of their HTPB fuel grain, and is now working on the fuel canister
Nose cone is completing the shoulder part which sticks into the airframe of the rocket
Fins are in the attachment stage of the aft motor section

Notice in the above list, that Rode’s Welding is mentioned. Part of the skills learned in this program is when and where to contract other professionals to finish a component. Most of the components of this vehicle are finished by the students, but when there is an area that requires a more professional skill base, the students have to know how to draw out specific design models and calculations and present them to a welder, machinist or other entity so that they are created according to the design they have drawn out for the completed vehicle.

There are 5 schools scheduled to launch 6 for sure, possibly 7 rockets. These schools include:

Alamo Heights (2)
Anahuac (1)
Booker T. Washington (1 for sure, possibly 2)
Fredericksburg (1)
Union Grove (1)

This year is unique in that the Army has some classified tests scheduled that involve the range (West Center 50), SystemsGo uses to launch. Therefore, instead of launching straight through and then leaving, there will be a break in the schedule on Wednesday, when the group will not be allowed access to the range. SystemsGo is looking into activities for the group to do on that open day.

When I checked in with Mr. Matthes and his class on their project status, this was the enthusiastic response they delivered.

Jacob Eckhardt, “We are cutting it close but we’re working on getting it done, full force.”

Mr. Matthes added, “with reduced workforce.”

This is a common malady of the program for the senior group. After school lets out it is hard to keep them focused, but there is always a dedicated contingency of the team that usually stays on point and gets the vehicle completed and off to WSMR. This is just a hazard of the launches being a summer trip after graduation. Even with this, 95% of the time, the project makes it to White Sands.

Today is 23 days out until the group leaves for WSMR. Watch this blog in upcoming weeks for more information and a launch schedule to 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.

Houston Rockets 2016-Sunday

Sorry I am late again today! I had to get a certain US Navy girl to the airport first. So I’m in the airport posting from my phone. Sure hope it works! Safe travels Kasey Burow! We will miss you!

Yesterday, a storm late in the afternoon soaked the electronics equipment, taking out the Livestream for the weekend. Launches continued though. I will still post the link just in case you want to see some of the previous feeds.

http://livestream.com/accounts/3165037/events/5423012

Today the SystemsGo team will have three more schools and eleven more rockets to launch plus yesterday’s group that cancelled because of rain,before packing the whole site up again and heading back to Fredericksburg. This schedule is a rigorous one for them that makes for a really long day. So for their sake, I hope that all the launches go off quickly and perfectly so that they can get done early and get on the road. Please no 3:30 am arrival time back in Fritztown again this year. Rain has already been a big factor for them today with storms rolling through adding water to an already water-logged range.

Below is the schedule for launches for tomorrow. Good luck to all the schools.

Sunday, May 22, 2016
School Name	# 1st Level Tsiolkovsky	# 2nd Level Oberth
Booker T. Washington HS Dr. Nghia Le	2	1
Channelview High School Alan Stone	3
SF Austin High School Richard Hubbard	5







Schools Launching	3
Totals	10	1
May 22^nd Total Rockets	11

Here are just a few pictures sent in from team members on site. Credits are attributed to each. Looks like it is an interesting launch down there this year.

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow/media_set?set=a.1142293862458410.1073741866.100000334203350&type=3

No new pictures yet today so the link is ysterday’s.

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

Rockets 2016-Sunday’s Report-End of Fredericksburg Launches

Today was a light day for launches. Only two schools and four rockets. All launched and three were recovered. The fourth a Transonic, once again sailed off into oblivion. Unfortunately that is just the nature of the beast, but hopefully where ever it lands someone will return it. Shoots never deployed on it as far as we were able to tell, so it may be a lawn dart in someone’s pasture and may be too unrecognizable for them to know what they have and where to return it. We can only hope that is not the case. The goal is always to return the vehicle to the students because they learn from what happens after launch and landing as well as from building and firing the rocket.

I would like to congratulate SystemsGo on another successful launch weekend at Stewart’s Hillview Ranch for Rockets 2016. While this weekend’s launches are completed, there are still launches in Houston next weekend and White Sands Missile Range(WSMR), later this summer.

Launches here at Fredericksburg Rockets went amazingly smooth this year. We held a tight schedule this year. With the exception of only a few, if a rocket made it to the pad, and onto a rail, it launched the first try. They were racking them on and putting them up in phenomenal order. Everyone involved actually had down time in the evenings after launches were done this year. That was a nice and welcomed thing.

This last evening we even had time to go home rest and then come back together for a little fun and visiting outside of the site. Thank you to Scott Netherland for providing that time.

I would also like to say how thankful I am to this program. I have had two daughters go through it and continue on to schooling and careers related to what they learned from SystemsGo and the high school program.

Secondly I would like to thank SystemsGo for having us as volunteers for the program each year.It is so wonderful to be counted as a valued part of this group and it’s operations. I am really happy to be part of such a fantastic education based program for our youth.

As I mentioned earlier, the Houston launches are next weekend, May 21 and 22. I will try to have updates on how those are going, as information is available. Also the Livestream will be operational from there as well. Phil Houseal will be there doing PR and conducting interviews with people involved there. The Livestream link is still the same and is provided below.

http://livestream.com/accounts/3165037/events/5379604

Good luck to those schools launching in Houston. I will post schedules for those on those days. One thing to note is that the Houston launches are not open to viewing by the public. The facility is not large enough to provide parking and spectator area for this event, so schools and students involved only.

The Goddard level launches are still coming up hopefully in late June. There is a tentative date, but I won’t be posting that until closer to time since they can still be subject to change at the Army’s need. I will keep everyone posted on that as well as information is available. Good luck to all those schools and safe travels when you go there. For more information as usual check their website at www.systemsgo.org .

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.1139283419426121.1073741865.100000334203350&type=3&pnref=story

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.

Day 60- Rockets at WSMR- Launch Day 2-Update

This morning started around 0900 on WC 50 range at WSMR. Earlier start was not available due to actual military testing scheduled for today. Two schools, Union Grove and Booker T Washington were on the schedule with a 6 hour window for completion.

The SystemsGo team spent the first hour plus, conducting readiness checks on the Nitrous tanks making sure they were switched out for full ones, making sure the Pad was completely operational, and safety testing the Fill and Fire system to be sure it continued at 100%. During this time, students evaluated their rocket and checked to be sure their vehicle was completely prepared for launch.

Between 1030 and 1100 all systems were deemed ready as was Union Grove’s rocket so it was moved to the launch rail. It went vertical around 1145 and commenced fill. As the third Nitrous tank was filling into the rocket, a small piece at the top of the Estes motor in the injection system froze, and collapsed causing Nitrous to vent. At this point the launch had to abort. The problem was easily fixed and the rocket was readied for a second attempt after Union Grove if time allowed.

It took approximately two hours to remove Union Grove’s rocket and put Booker T Washington’s rocket on the rail, switch out Nitrous tanks, and wait on the survey teams to provide a new azimuth and angel for the rail for the new launch. During this time another thunderstorm was fast approaching. At 1420 they began fill, as the third tank was loading the Army reported lightning ten miles out. Fill was completed and the rocket was ready to fire so the teams all went to the bunk house and began countdown. Twelve seconds from launch the Army called abort due too high winds that would have affected the rocket’s projections. After another 45 minutes to one hour, they were given the go for launch again and restarted the countdown at one minute and 30 seconds (90 seconds). Rain continued throughout this time.

The initial launch went well. The rocket ignited and left the rail. It traveled 30 to 40 feet up where the bolts at the top of the nozzle cracked, the rocket lost control, and nose-dived into the range between 180 to 200 feet from the launch rail. It continued burning on the ground, and continued storming so it was allowed to stay where it was and burn out. The Army took over monitoring it until they deemed it safe to approach.

This rocket was caring a NASA payload in the form of a container that was filled with lava rocks meant to represent moon rocks. The purpose of the payload was to test the container and evaluate how it would hold up to space flight and impact at landing. The container was crushed and the rocks strewn all over the crash site. It was determined that the container would not hold up as part of the nose cone.

The decision to abort for the day was made because of continued heavy rain, lightning, and wind in the storm. Two hours elapsed before the storm let up and they were able to get out on the range, retrieve the rocket and rocks, and pack up for the day. This also meant that Union Grove would not get another shot at launch for today, bumping them to after Alamo Heights tomorrow time permitting.

On another outstanding note, the new Fill and Fire system has been tested and found 100% operational in sunshine or rain. Congratulations to Robert Dever, the system designer.

Wednesday’s schedule includes two vehicles for Alamo Heights High School and now a second attempt for Union Grove if the window of opportunity is still available. Range time begins at 0400 with a final eight-hour window. Launch times begin at 0800.

After launches are complete, the team will pack up all equipment and clean up the site, and the schools will load all vehicles, clean up and take down all staging areas including tents and materials and return the bunk house and pad to pre-SystemsGo arrival WSMR standards.

Thursday all SystemsGo teams and participating schools will return home.

That concludes Tuesday’s WSMR Rocket update.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited. SystemsGo is a Texas-based STEM curriculum program.

Tune in again tomorrow for an update from Wednesday’s final day of launches at White Sands Missile Range this week.

Day 59-Rockets at WSMR -Launch Day 1-Update

Monday was another long day for the SystemsGo team, students from Marble Falls and Anahuac High Schools, and WSMR officials as they commenced the first day of tests. Start time on the range at 0400 was with no electricity due to lightning strikes the evening before, but this was quickly corrected.

The Fill and Fire System completed set up with the addition of the Comm Readout Displays which allow the bunk house and the pad to see a digital readout of the temperature, pressure, and weight for the vehicle on the pad during the launch preparation sequences. The full system was tested and minor glitches addressed which brought it to 100% working and readiness. Throughout the day the system was reported to work great and continued at 100%.

Marble Falls was originally scheduled to test a 0830, instead it made it to the pad at around 1200. The vehicle passed its final fill and fire tests and went vertical around 1230. The survey team set the angel at 85 degrees with an azimuth of 355. Six Nitrous bottles were loaded into the tank. At this point it almost over pressured and began to release venting liquid instead of gas. At 175 lbs and 900 PSI the vehicle was determined ready for launch. Switches were good, and flame was good, but the injector failed to open and the rocket went into a still fire burn on the pad, continuing to burn for four minutes, until the bottom began leaking the nitrous.

Army rules forbid any contact during this time and for 30 minutes after the fire burned out. At that time the Oxidizer crew was allowed to approach and evaluate the vehicle. The rocket was too hot too touch delaying removal of it from the pad for another hour.

Minor damages were reported to the launch rail and trailer, but nothing that would affect or delay any future launches at this time. Instead it was just enough to give Captain Garrett something to do over the summer again.

At approximately 1400 Anahuac’s vehicle was brought to the pad and cleared for launch. At fill, one and a half bottles were loaded into the tank at which time it began leaking out from a vehicle malfunction, and Anahuac had to be scratched.

This concluded the tests for the day, setting today’s successful launch rate at zero. Any school that actually makes it this far is still a success for the simple fact that they attempted a launch of a vehicle of this size. They still have post analysis to do and challenges to over come to prevent these outcomes in the future.

Mother nature was reported to have attended the tests today as well and thrown her own challenges into the range for the crew to overcome, as well as find some humor in once they had passed. First a large dirt devil spawned right on top of the range and attempted to steal one of the large staging tents, causing a commotion as individuals scrambled after and reset it. Later, two birds were fighting on a transformer out by the pad, when a loud pop resounded, right after which one bird fell to the ground while the other made its escape and the power at the pad went down. Luckily they were using generators so this did not affect the pad and they continued as it was being fixed.

The crew spent fourteen hours at the range today, with an 8 hour launch window. Tomorrow they begin their day at 0900 with a shortened 6 hour launch window due to some other military tests scheduled for that morning early. Union Grove High School will be first followed by Booker T Washington High School. Both rockets are reported to be at 100% and waiting.

That concludes Monday’s WSMR Rocket update.

Tune in again tomorrow for an update from Tuesday and a schedule of Wednesday’s launches at White Sands Missile Range this week.

Day 58-Rockets at WSMR Setup Day

SystemsGo had a productive first day today in spite of a long night on the road getting in around 0200 and a short night of sleep. They were at the range bright and early Sunday morning to set up for the launches and finish and evaluate rockets.

The SystemsGo team split into groups. Captain Garrett and Steve Burow headed up the group at the pad setting up the launch rail. Robert Dever and Randy Kuhlmann set up the Fill and Fire system and proceeded with on-site testing. Brett Williams and Chelsea Burow rolled out all the cabling and connected the electrical systems and after which they helped Andrew Matthes who was overseeing the student groups with final checks and problem solving on rockets.

The first four schools for this Goddard level program were there with their rockets ready for leak and readiness tests. These tests are standard operating procedure used to create safeguards and ensure a successful launch as long as there are no internal parameters that cause the rocket to fail. No rocket will launch without passing these tests. An initial fail does not mean that the rocket is scratched for launch, only that the school has a short window of time in which to correct the issue so that it may be retested, pass and proceed to launch. Time constraints do not allow for continuous testing so the vehicle must pass quickly or be pulled from the launch sequence.

Marble Falls first test showed a minor problem, they were able to fix the issue and passed their second test. They are ready to launch and are scheduled as the first school for tomorrow morning at 0830.

Anahuac is scheduled to launch second tomorrow, but they are currently still working to resolve an issue shown in their test.

Union Grove is scheduled as first launch on Tuesday morning. They passed all their leak and readiness tests and are on standby for launch from 1200 to 1600 Monday in the event that Anahuac is not ready, or extra time allows.

Booker T Washington passed their leak test. They are scheduled as the second launch on Tuesday and are currently still finishing some last minute adjustments.

Set up and systems tests also went well. The new Fill and Fire system tested at 100% minus the Comm Readout Displays because a thunderstorm and lightning in the area prevented them from setting up that part of the system. This display allows mission control and the pad to communicate by sight through a constantly evolving digital readout in order to better coordinate launch sequences without the delay of radio communications, allowing for more safety and efficiency during the Fill and Fire, and count down stages. This last component will be set up early Monday morning and will complete its readiness check before the first launch, putting the full system at 100%.

A few members of the SystemsGo team got drenched in the fast approaching storm while they were down at the pad trying to put Marble Falls’ rocket on the rail so that it would be ready for launch Monday morning. Instead it was covered and left to be raised on the rail early Monday morning.

The Army has allotted an eight-hour window for testing tomorrow. The day begins at 0400 at the range for the SystemsGo team to accomplish these last necessities left from set up today. Then at 0600 the survey team shows up provide angel and azimuth settings for the launches to ensure they perform in a set area of the range for safety and recovery. Then if everything is in perfect order, Marble Falls will test their rocket launching at 0830. Anahuac or Union Grove will follow as quickly in succession as readiness allows.

Tune in again tomorrow for an update from Monday and a schedule of Tuesday’s launches at White Sands Missile Range this week.

Day 57-Rockets on the Road to WSMR

The SystemsGo team had a rough start to their day. They were scheduled to leave Fredericksburg at 10:00 this morning, but due to the final touches and tests on the new Fill and Fire system taking much longer than originally thought, the team didn’t leave until 4:20 this afternoon. This system has been ready for some time, but engineers are always thinking of ways to further improve their product to ensure that it is always better than first envisioned. That coupled with all the new safeguards and the new Comm Readout Display on a brand new system meant that final touches recently decided upon caused thoroughness and perfection to be a bit time extensive, but most definitely worth the time and delay. It should prove to be an awesome system.

It is going to be a really long night tonight as well as a long day setting up out at the range tomorrow. This group will be running on very little sleep before they have to hit the road to the range in the morning. Hopefully set up will go really well tomorrow so they can call it an early evening and catch up on the sleep they are losing tonight.

By the time they finally got on the road, the two engineers, Robert and Randy that were working on the Fill and Fire had already spent about 32 hours straight working. Add that to the rest of the group driving all night and it just might be an exhausted and definitely all business and no nonsense group to deal with for more reasons than just to get the job done. I really feel for the group and wish them safe travels and a productive trip and day tomorrow.

They were leaving Fort Stockton shortly before 9:00 pm after a short break for food. They seem to be making good time for three pick-up trucks pulling a box trailer of equipment, a trailer with the large wire wheels and three rockets, and another trailer with the launch rail, and launch equipment.

Tomorrow’s schedule is mostly setup and prep for the first launches to begin on Monday. Five schools are scheduled to launch at White Sands this week. They include, Marble Falls High School, Anahuac High School, Union Grove High School, Booker T Washington High School, and Alamo Heights High School.

I will post updates to things in WSMR as they are available this week, hopefully daily.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Tune again tomorrow for a schedule of Monday’s launches at White Sands Missile Range this week.

12:51: The group just left El Paso after another short stop. They are still making good time.

2:00 AM The group arrived safely in Alamogordo and is catching what sleep they can before an early morning start.

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