Tag: Chelsea Burow

SystemsGo New Mexico Inaugural Launches Were a Great Success Thursday in Jal

Congratulations to SystemsGoNM on a great day in Jal, NM Thursday. Six schools attempted launching a total of 10 rockets today and 9 of those 10 were successful launches. That is quite an impressive start for the New Mexico program branch. Staff from SystemsGo in Texas were very pleased with today’s launch outcome.

Program Director, Rebekah Hyatt had this to say,  “SystemsGo NM has officially established their program! Jal high school was the first SG school to certify and launch a rocket! They are off to a fabulous start!”

All rockets tested this year were one pound/one mile vehicles, next year the program plans to add the next level transonic rockets to the docket. This will make next year another interesting year to keep an eye on this new program as transonic add their own set of challenges both for the students and the launch facilities.

To add to the great news, the program in New Mexico is growing and more schools may be added this next year.

Congratulations to the six schools that were part of this monumental inaugural launch this year. You were all part of history and did very well. Jal High School, Carlsbad High School, Hobbs High School, Lake Arthur High School, Loving High School, and Lovington High School, you are the first to build a launch a rocket in your schools and state as part of this program. You are now what new schools will watch and aspire to be and beat. This is a good thing. You have set your schools up for future successes. And as years pass you will find there will be a bit of friendly competition to achieve the best. This just keeps each new class reaching a little farther to learn that one thing that makes their project not only better than last year’s, but better than any other schools’.

In the beginning just getting off the rail is a huge success, but as years go by you want to improve those results. Some of you will be back next year, and some of you will not. For those that will not, you have something that no one after you will ever have again, you were the first to achieve success here today, and your success has set the bar for next year. For those that will be back, and for future groups after you, the bar is set, now it’s time to move forward and surpass it. Success now, is not matching what others have done, it is attempting to give those after you another measure to beat. This not only helps future students it helps your school’s program to continue and be successful.

The best part of this is that all you learned here in the program carries over into your success in the future. Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and whether you realize it or not, business, communication, and work place training will all help lead you to future success.

Here are a few high lights from today’s program:   

Above are two photos from the launch site.

 These are Stage 1 and Stage 2 at Jal Volunteer Fire Department.   All photos are courtesy of Rebekah Hyatt, SystemsGo Program Director.

More photos from today’s activities are available here: https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow/media_set?set=a.1452809664740160.1073741877.100000334203350&type=3

This closes out the SystemsGoNM launch activities.

Tomorrow the team members from SystemsGo in Texas will head back to Fredericksburg and continue preparations for more launches.

Rockets 2017  will continue with two  more launches in May. The first will be held in Smith Point just south of Anahuac, Texas for schools in the Houston area, on the weekend of  May 12-14, 2017. 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 a new location for that area this year. Information and a map link are available on the website.

Next the Stewart Ranch in Willow City, Texas will host the largest of the now three launch events on the weekend of May 18-21, 2017.  This testing site covers the Fredericksburg and Hill Country area schools and all Texas schools not participating in the Houston launches.

The senior groups are tentatively scheduled to launch their Goddard level rockets at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico the week of June 26-30.  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 http://www.systemsgo.org/save-the-date-for-rockets-2017/  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/save-the-date-for-rockets-2017/ . 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 theses 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.

http://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.

Thank you for reading and following the SystemsGo Rockets.

SystemsGoNM Makes History Thursday at the New Discovery Education Launch Site

A new milestone in STEM education and history begins Thursday as six schools new to the SystemsGo program for this year attempt to launch 10 rockets carrying a one pound payload to an altitude of one mile into the sky. Students from Jal High School, Hobbs High School, Lake Arthur High School, Loving High School, Carlsbad High School, and Lovington High School are the first in New Mexico to attempt a successful test of these student researched, designed, engineered and constructed vehicles under the direction of the SystemsGo STEM Education program.

David Willden, SystemsGoNM coordinator along with his team and members from SystemsGo Texas spent yesterday morning instructing Range Safety Officers (RSO’s) in proper operating safety for tomorrow’s launches. Other preparations have been ongoing during the prior week to ensure readiness and success of the new launch facility and especially tomorrow’s student vehicle tests.

 The new Discovery Education Launch Pad during Wednesday’s preparations.

Stage 1 and Stage 2 checks were also in progress today and will be completed tomorrow for any schools not able to attend today. Jal High School will be the first to launch tomorrow because they were the first successful team through Stage 1 and 2 checks.

   Here Jal High School students move through Stage 1 and 2 vehicle readiness checks. More photos from today’s activities are available here: https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow . All today’s photos are courtesy of Rebekah Hyatt, SystemsGo.

New Mexico legislative members, NASA and White Sands Missile Range(WSMR) personnel as well as many other dignitaries and sponsors were part of a reception held today to celebrate SystemsGoNM inaugural launch tomorrow.

Stage 1 and 2 reopen for continued checks at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, with the check in for spectators at the launch site beginning at 8:00 a.m. Local sponsors and vendors are providing concessions and restrooms at the site.

Flight possibilities will be optimal tomorrow morning as the weather service is predicting the probability of 50 mph winds tomorrow afternoon. This could prevent any further launch attempts. Students please be early, and prepared with your vehicle in order to keep launches as prompt and continuous as possible.

The schedule/list for tomorrow’s launches is below. This is the schedule as printed on SystemsGo‘s website, but it will be amended as needed as to order, depending on when each team passes Stage 1 and 2 checks and arrives at Mission Control with their vehicle. Note above, that Jal has already moved into the first spot, different than listed here.

Thursday, April 27, 2017

School Name, Teacher                       1/1

  • Carlsbad High School                             1                                                                               Deb Haggerton
  • Hobbs High School                                 2                                                                             Shawna Carter
  • Jal High School                                        1                                                                             Nathan Richard
  • Lake Arthur High School                      1                                                                               Steve Galuska
  • Loving High School                                3                                                                               Albert Lopez
  • Lovington High School                          2                                                                               Michael Dodson

# Schools Launching                              6

# Total Rockets                                       10

A more formal schedule can also be downloaded at http://www.systemsgo.org/save-the-date-for-rockets-2017/ .

Here are map links for Jal Fire Department  Map to Jal Fire Station, Jal, NM and Discovery Education Launch Site Map to Discovery Education Launch Pad, North of Jal, NM  .

A live feed for Thursday’s launches will be available on the following Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/discoveryed and will  also be linked to their science page at http://www.bringonthescience.com/ .

SystemsGo New Mexico also has a twitter feed you can join to keep up to date on what they are doing. That link is https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNM

SystemsGo New Mexico is headed up by David Willden.

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

Late Thursday evening an after report will be posted here, featuring results, pictures and some editorial content cataloging the success of the 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.

SystemsGo Texas Heads to Support SystemsGo New Mexico

Members of SystemsGo, including Gene Garrett, Rebekah Hyatt, and Scott Netherland traveled to Jal, NM today to lend support to  David Willden and the new SystemsGoNM as they prepare to execute their first launches for six New Mexico schools new to the program for this year. Members of SystemsGoNM have already been hard at work readying the new Discovery Education Launch Pad for Thursday’s launches.  They have also been prepping the Jal Fire Station for Stages 1 and 2.

Wednesday, SystemsGoNM and SystemsGo will join forces to train volunteers and clarify operating systems procedures. This will serve to help refresh members who were observers at Willow City last May, and be an easy paced on the job training session for them and others involved. This should help prepare them in order to make Thursday run smoothly. Training will take place from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Jal Fire Station.

A reception for Sponsors, Volunteers and Dignitaries will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Wednesday evening in Hobbs, NM at the Baymont Inn and Suites. Attendees will listen to speakers instrumental to the launch of this new program. Refreshments will be served during the presentations.

Schools participating in the Jal launches include Carlsbad High School, Hobbs High School, Jal High School, Lake Arthur High School, Loving High School and Lovington High School.

A live feed for Thursday’s launches will be available on the following Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/discoveryed and will  also linked to their science page at http://www.bringonthescience.com/ .

SystemsGo New Mexico also has a twitter feed you can join to keep up to date on what they are doing. That link is https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNM

The schedule of launches for Jal is available at http://www.systemsgo.org/save-the-date-for-rockets-2017/ . I will post it here for launch day as well.

SystemsGo New Mexico is headed up by David Willden.

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 Wednesday and Thursday evening. Daily reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted each evening.

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

 

Happy Thanksgiving All

I had planned to post something  that I had written in the past for Thanksgiving, only to discover I couldn’t find anything I had written in the past for Thanksgiving. How sad, I thought, such a wonderful holiday and I have never taken the time to write a word about it. Well, now I shall remedy that, even if at the moment I have no idea what I plan to say. So you will just have to bear with me a bit!

It is odd that I haven’t taken the time to write about this holiday since I know it is one of my favorites and I know many say the same. I think it stands out as such because it involves all the wonderful aspects of a holiday without so much commercial fuss.  Yes, it does still have some, but not like Christmas, Easter, and Halloween.

It is designed as a holiday of thanks and sharing of all that we have, so we take the time to get together with family and friends and prepare and share food, 1452392_687153997972401_473183348_nfellowship, fun, parades, football, hunting, church, prayer and thanks. We share sheer joy at just being together. Our gifts for this particular holiday are our food, our joy, our love, and our companionship. We wrap them in smiles, hugs, tears and laughter.

We relax, visit, watch football, play games and eat all day long, and in our case late into the night. In fact sometimes it becomes a campfire party later in the evening.

The biggest stress is preparing food and cleaning at the house. Yes I said it that way on purpose because quite often all the cleaning never gets done (mostly dusting, the floors and bathrooms are clean-hey if you can’t handle that, write your name in the dust and then politely leave through the same door in which you came),  and my family never seems to mind. What didn’t get done will get finished as the Christmas decorations go up next week. Besides, I live in a sand field and I can dust today and it will look like I never did by tonight, especially if the windows are open which they have been off and on lately. But I digress, that is not the point. The point is we get together for this holiday to give great thanks and to just plain eat and have fun.

The stressful stuff starts on Friday as we start shopping for that next biggest holiday of Christmas.  But for Thanksgiving Day, wake up, watch the sun rise and go enjoy your family.img_8693 I know that is what I am going to do. Actually most of them are coming to my house. I wish every last one of them was, but unfortunately some due to circumstances just cannot. I pray that where ever they are, they are safe and have a wonderful day anyway.

God bless and give thanks for all you have, and pray for those less fortunate than you that may not being having such a wonderful day. May God bless and keep them and fill their needs as well.

Happy Thanksgiving All may you have a wonderful and blessed day.

Friday, SystemsGo’s Rockets 2016 Officially Ends as Team Travels Home and Transitions into Next Year Preps

At 7:30 a.m.  this morning, the SystemsGo team and Fredericksburg students traveled home from White Sands Missile Range, arriving safely in Fredericksburg around 5:30 p.m.

WSMR marks the end of another successful year with launches in Houston, Willow City included. The group helped test 90 Tchaikovsky and Oberth rockets and 7 Goddard level rockets for the Rockets 2016 season.

Now the volunteer staff returns to their daily lives and the SystemsGo team enjoys a much needed break before continuing with more schools, students and rockets. It won’t be long and the “launch season” will be back again with Rockets 2017. This coming season will start a little earlier with launches in April for the new New Mexico schools that will be coming online. It should prove to be an exciting year.

For now, SystemsGo transitions back to helping schools and teachers implement this STEM based program so that more students can participate in this system of learning.

That concludes Friday’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.

Team photo includes from left to right, (SystemsGo founder), Cade Ottmers, Brian Heffner, Josh Hampton, Chelsea Burow, Gene Garrett, Steve Burow, Randy Kuhlmann, Robert Dever, and Andrew Matthes (FHS STEM program instructor).

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.

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.

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.

Wednesday, Launch Day 2 at WSMR

The Anahuac rocket left the rail this year at 8:36 a.m. It traveled 171 meters (appx. 576.27’).  The Estes motor blew out at ignition as the rocket started its lift off. This caused the rocket to spiral upward and eventually nose over and continue into the range a few hundred yards to the right of the launch rail, digging a crater and leaving dust for some distance. The Anahuac teachers were prepared and blew party horns to celebrate as soon as the vehicle came to rest. Congratulations Anahuac on your first successful launch!!!!!

The next two T times were both held by Booker T Washington High School. Both of these rockets were carrying a payload consisting of a PVC container with space pebbles that they were testing to see how they would react upon reentry to the earth’s surface.

Unfortunately it was not a good day for Booker T. They achieved success in making it to the pad, but flight was not to be. Neither vehicle left the pad.

On the 11:00 a.m. test of Golden 5 the Junior class rocket, the valve froze shut not allowing the Nitrous Oxide to mix with the fuel at ignition resulting in a small puff of smoke and a misfire.

The 2:15 p.m. test of their Senior class rocket, failed due to a fault in the ignition wire  which resulted in no ignition and the system venting out the Nitrous. There is no word at this time as to whether either vehicle will be able to retest in one of tomorrow’s two available retest T’s. Even if one of the vehicles can be repaired in time there may not be more Nitrous available for them to conduct any additional testing.

At this time, the 8:30 a.m. T time is scheduled for Fredericksburg’s Red Bird #17 rocket. If no other retesting occurs, then the mission will be complete, then clean up and pack up will end the day for SystemsGo, students, and WSMR personnel.

Good luck to Fredericksburg and tomorrow and safe travels to all schools heading home.

Tomorrow’s test schedule is as follows:

  • 8:30 a.m. Fredericksburg
  • 11:00 a.m. Retest (1)
  • 2:00 p.m. Retest (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.

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.

The picture was provided by parent, Teresa Moore, of the Anahuac High School Rocket team after their launch here at WSMR. Students pictured are (not in order) Anne-Marie Henry, Madalyn Orozco, Maria Magana, Kaitelynn Innerarity, Mason Duhon, Shon Patton, Dante Nguyen, Beau Cendejas, Austin Hodges, Meghan Thomas, Zack Rose, and Caleb Moore.

Tuesay, First Launch Day at WSMR

Today was a great success for the SystemsGo program as they met and/ or exceeded three T times with three rockets off the rails. The action started off well with a T time of 8:30 a.m. for Alamo Heights Heights School. They began the day with their smaller rocket built for extra height. It left the rail well, had a beautiful flight and reached a total height of 10086′. At this point the paper phenolic cover around the fuel grain burned off causing the body tube to melt through developing a hole with a side burn after which it rolled over and returned to the range in a ballistic fall. Reports from WSMR have it plugged into the range 970′ from the launch site in lawn dart fashion. This was not totally unexpected since a recovery system was not part of the vehicle.

The 11:00 a.m. T time for Union Grove’s launch meant that SystemsGo had to load the vehicle on the rail, fill and be ready to fire within two and a half hours. This was met and exceeded as their rocket left the rail at 10:59. The rocket had a great lift off but not far into the flight, the engine case blew apart dumping the motor and fuel grain. Preliminary reports are that the nozzle came off causing engine explosion. Their nose cone and shoot deployed, but the shoot did not open. Their max height was 600′.  This was actually the first time that Union Grove High School has left the rail in what is now their third attempt at WSMR. This is a great triumph for them. They are now their school’s first flight at WSMR.  Great job, Union Grove students.

Alamo Heights had a second rocket launch today with a T time of 2:00 p.m. SystemsGo did great work and exceeded this sending them off the rail at 1:48. This rocket only made 180′ after clearing the rail. The same paper phenolic fuel grain cover caused a hole to melt through the rocket at which point it began tumbling end over end back to the range.

Congratulations to both schools, at having achieved getting a rocket off the rail at WSMR. Post Flight Analysis on all these vehicles should prove to be enlightening and educational.

Tomorrow’s schedule is tentative because at this point the scheduled schools’ rockets are not pad ready. They are all going out to the range at 5:00 a.m. to complete work on them and hopefully keep the tight schedule for the day. The following is the schedule at this time:

Wednesday launch order:

  • 8:30 a.m. Anahuac
  • 11:00 a.m. Booker T. Washington (1)
  • 2:00 p.m. 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.

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.

The picture was provided by parent, Lori Davis of the Union Grove High School Rocket team after their launch here at WSMR.

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.

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.