#Highschoolrockets – Page 15 – On the Wings of Angels

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

Fredericksburg’s STEM Academy/Rocket Program-Rockets 2017 Willow City Launch Week Update 1

Today is Tuesday, May 16, and the juniors are just days away from testing their vehicle at Stewart Ranch in Willow City at Rockets 2017. They will be launching on Thursday, but the time will be determined on site.

Deadline for construction completion was last Thursday, and unfortunately that one they missed. Recovering from that has taken diligence because they have their Flight Readiness Review (FRR) due today. This is a must or they will suffer another set back which they cannot afford this close to T time. Mr. Matthes is confident that they will be ready to launch Thursday.

Their payload is fast growth slime mold. It has been growing and spreading and is ready to be packaged into the rocket and sent into space. It is growing well here on earth, the question to be answered is how will space travel affect its growth, negatively or positively?

Here the juniors, Sergio Walla, Bryce Erwin, and Alex West, left to right, working on the rocket.

In this one Chris Calzada is cleaning excess epoxy off of a fin mount.

Harrison Spisak, is working on the Flight Readiness Review (FRR)in this last photo.

Even though the seniors’ “Baby Bird” test stand rocket will not fly at Willow City this year, they are still hard at work and progressing well on Red Bird #18 for WSMR in June. The tank has been tested successfully and the vehicles stability has been verified by NASA. This allowed for the fins to be cut so that they can be beveled for aerodynamic purposes, and then welded to the vehicle. The door panels on the forward skirt and aft skirt have been cut, and will be welded to the tank this week.

Four students accumulated 12 hours of work over the weekend fiberglassing the nose cone. According to Mr. Matthes, “Things are coming together very well, but there is still a lot to do.”

This article is the ninth in a series, new for this school year ’16/’17 of updates that will follow the Fredericksburg STEM Academy/Rocket program. This school is a participant of the SystemsGo STEM program. This series of articles is intended to support, encourage, and challenge students in the program as they share their working status and accomplishments throughout the year in the program. These publications will be available for tags and re-posting.

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

#Rockets2017 #SystemsGo #FredricksburgSTEMAcademy #Launcher01

Babybird’s Successful Start Falls Just Short of Flight for Rockets 2017-Fredericksburg STEM Academy/Rocket Program-Spring Term Update #4

Hopes were that three successful tests on the new “junior test stand” nick named “Babybird” over the past weekend would result in the opportunity for the seniors in the Fredericksburg STEM Academy to fly a new Hybrid student developed rocket at Willow City. The purpose of this teststand, as highlighted in the last update, was to test a fuel grain system designed and developed by the seniors to interface with the hyportek injector and tank. Their hope was to have 3 successful tests on this past weekend.

Saturday evening, May 6, they conducted their first ever test of the Babybird. Unfortunately according to Mr. Matthes, “the containment system experienced thermal damage which tables Babybird for this year”

Babybird may not send a rocket out this year, but she is not at her end. According to Mr. Matthes, “we will continue with the testing of it…The Baby bird still is important research that can be utilized by SystemsGo to increase the rigor of the Oberth level of the program to include motor design.”

Mr. Matthes congratulates the class on their hard work and efforts, “Burn looks great though… well designed propulsion. Very curious to see the data which looked promising at a glance. Great job FHS Engineering Class of 2017!”

This article is the eighth in a series, new for this school year ’16/’17 of updates that will follow the Fredericksburg STEM Academy/Rocket program. This school is a participant of the SystemsGo STEM program. This series of articles is intended to support, encourage, and challenge students in the program as they share their working status and accomplishments throughout the year in the program. These publications will be available for tags and re-posting.

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

#Rockets2017 #SystemsGo #FredericksburgSTEMAcademy #Launcher01

Sunday, Day 3 and The Last Day of Houston Rockets 2017-Recap

Today, Sunday, was the last day of launches at the Smith Point site for the SystemsGo team. They had two more schools, Northstar High School and Booker T Washington High School and five more rockets on the original schedule.

This made for another long day on the range, or at least longer than originally anticipated, but it allowed all the students’ hard work their chance to fly. They were up and out on the range early enough to watch the sunrise while they waited for rockets to load on rails, as seen here.

The team finally finished packing up and were highway bound headed back to Fredericksburg at about 4:45 this evening.

One of the highlights of the day was from Northstar High School. A guitar playing, singing, rocket engineer, Mr. Ian Barthlolmee, sat down with Phil and gave the live stream audience a small concert while they waited for his team’s rocket to get clearance down at the pad. What an enjoyable treat for folks there and online. You just never know who you will find in this rocket science business. Thank you for the musical treat Ian.

Here are a few shots of the action from the day.

Here is Ian’s team cheering their launch.

These were provided by pad team member, Chelsea Burow. Seen here with the Sunday Pad Team.

She also provided the sunrise, and the lead image for the article tonight, as well as some in the Facebook album mentioned below.

And this one is of the final rocket team of the day, Booker T Washington’s Transonic:

Thank you, Chelsea.

Along with the ones Chelsea shared, here is a link for some really nice ones from today from David Brady, from NASA. He and his daughter, Erika, helped at the pad today. This is their second year to be a part of the action down in Houston. These are some really good pictures, be sure to check out the link.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m5wgwe636vpqilg/AADj-yt145Wm1ppMqRNsHrKma?dl=0

More pictures will be in two Facebook albums for you to view at:

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow/media_set?set=a.1472882699399523&type=3&pnref=story These are from Chelsea and myself.

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow/media_set?set=a.1472979219389871.1073741887.100000334203350&type=3&pnref=story Note, these are also the pictures by David Brady.

Event details will be available here each day of next week’s event in Willow City at Stewart Ranch. Daily reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures, and some editorial content will also be posted.

Saturday, Day 2 For Houston Rockets 2017-Recap and Sunday’s Schedule

Today, Saturday, the SystemsGo team had seven schools and twenty rockets to launch on this, their normal full day of launching at the Houston location. It was a productive day, albeit a long and tiring day for the team at the range. The action finally ended and the Livestream shut down about 9:15 this evening.

Weather at the site was sunny with only slight clouds and some wind. Reports from recovery members say it was a beautiful day for launching rockets.

Phil and Rebekah had a very special guest at Mission Control today. Norman Chaffee, retired Deputy Director of NASA Johnson Space Center, was there.He consults with some of the schools in the area on their rockets and STEM programs. In the interview today, he remembered coming to Fredericksburg in the early days of these launches to consult with Brett Williams, program founder, on safety and logistics. It was a genuinely interesting interview as he recounted all his work history through the years with the space program, all the way to where he is now retired and helping young high school students learn.

Later in the day, Phil took time to talk to Christy Bible Glass about her history and how she came to work for SystemsGo. Unfortunately I didn’t get to hear much of hers because my system crashed on my phone and computer about that time, which is why the quality of her picture is so bad, and she appears to have a monocle over one of her glasses. Sorry about that Christy, maybe you can say you were practicing for the upcoming Pirates movie. “Arrgh!”

What I was able to hear and see was a really nice and interesting interview.

In spite of issues on my part, the team still had a great day on the range. Here are a few of the better screen grabs I managed to get today.

The rest of today’s screen shots will be posted on Facebook at the following address for public sharing:

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow/media_set?set=a.1471968966157563&type=3

The link below is screen shots from yesterday’s action at the range. Chelsea Burow, pad operator, may add more to either of these albums later. I know she took some really nice pictures from the pad.

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow/media_set?set=a.1471692176185242.100000334203350&type=3&uploaded=36

Apparently students, teachers, parents and other humans were not the only spectators watching the rockets. This fellow was sent in by recovery team member, Steve Burrow.

The current launch schedule for Sunday is shown below and may also be downloaded from SystemsGo website at the following address: http://www.systemsgo.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Flight-Schedule-Rockets-2017-Houston-4-4-17-.2.pdf

Sunday, May 22, 2016
School Name	# 1st Level Tsiolkovsky	# 2nd Level Oberth
Booker T. Washington HS Dr. Nghia Le	1	1
Northstar High School Alan Stone	2	1

Schools Launching 2
Totals	3	2
May 22^nd Total Rockets	5

Public access is available at this new site this year. A map to the location as well as directions are available at the SystemsGo Events page found here:

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

There will also be Livestream from there again this year so friends and family can watch the action online, provided by Phil Houseal and Zach Pooser .

http://livestream.com/systemsgo

Zach and Phil provide a great experience for both viewers at home and the students and team on site while helping to bolster the STEM program. Allowing the public to share in the actions and see what these students are accomplishing as they apply all they have learned and continue to learn from their launch results helps SystemsGo to grow interest in the future of the STEM program and the hands on approach to learning.

Please remember that since there is pubic access to this event this year, there are tickets for order and those may be found on the SystemsGo website as well at this link: https://www.greateventseats.com/events.php?lID=92

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.

Friday, Day 1 For Houston Rockets 2017-Recap and Saturday’s Schedule

Today, Friday was the first day of Houston rocket launches. This is new for this year. Usually Friday is just a set up day, but do to more rocket volume to achieve launching, Friday afternoon was added. Eight schools tested a total of 12 rockets this afternoon.

According to reports from team members at the site, all 12 rockets left the rail. That does not mean each was a perfect launch, but then that is why they are considered test vehicles. All in all it was a good day with fabulous weather, and a great new location with good results. And they get to do it all over again Saturday.

These are screen shots of the action in Houston. Quality isn’t always perfect but at least you can see some of what went on today. I will add more to Facebook and post them at some point on Saturday. The link to my page is down below these photos.

I do have more photos I grabbed from the live feed as well as some from team members that I will be posting Saturday morning. https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow

Here is the schedule for Saturday as listed on the SystemsGo website.

Saturday, May 13, 2017
School Name	# 1st Level Tsiolkovsky	# 2nd Level Oberth
Brazosport High School Bradley Nelson	1
Brazoswood High School Dale Hobbs	3	1
Channelview High School Alan Stone	3
Davis High School Hasan Johnson	2
Kingwood Park High School Jim Brown	2
Liberty High School Matthew Williams	2	1
SF Austin High School Richard Hubbard	5

7
Schools Launching
Totals	18	2
May 21^st Total Rockets	20

Livestream is available again this year so friends and family can watch the action online. The link for that is on SystemsGo‘s website or posted here: http://livestream.com/systemsgo

Here is Phil Houseal keeping the Livestream action going:

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.

SystemsGo Team Travels to Smith Point for an Early Start to Houston Rockets 2017-Friday’s Launch Schedule Included

The StsytemsGo team left today, Thursday, headed to Smith Point, near Anahuac, Texas down near Houston. This is a new location for this year. They arrived there early today, setting up the launch site, and readying everything for an early start, as launches begin Friday afternoon. This is new for this year.

Launches will continue all day Saturday, and half a day on Sunday with 17 schools launching a total of 39 vehicles.

The current launch schedule for Friday is shown below and may also be downloaded from SystemsGo website at the following address: http://www.systemsgo.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Flight-Schedule-Rockets-2017-Houston-4-4-17-.2.pdf

Friday, May 12, 2017
School Name	# 1st Level Tsiolkovsky	# 2nd Level Oberth
Anahuac High School Kirk Moore	1	1
Dickinson High School Sara Malloy	1
Eisenhower High School Jacob Arriaga	1
Pasadena Memorial High School Katherin Melton	1
Pasadena Memorial High School Kyle Jurek	1
South Houston High School Kevin Herron	4
Victoria East High School Adam Wertman	2
Victoria West High School Cheryl Clark	1

Schools Launching 8
Totals	12	1
May 21^st Total Rockets	13

This new launch site, will allow public access this year. A map to the location as well as directions are available at the SystemsGo Events page found here:

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

Phil Houseal and Zach Pooser will be on site providing the Livestream up-link again this year so friends and family can watch the action online. Here is the link to the live stream for the Houston launches.

http://livestream.com/systemsgo

Zach and Phil provide a great experience for both viewers at home and the students and team on site while helping to bolster the STEM program. Allowing the public to share in the action and see what these students are accomplishing as they apply all they have learned in class, and continue to learn from their launch results, helps SystemsGo to grow interest in the future of the STEM program and the hands on approach to learning.

Just a note, the tickets are free of charge but are required for entrance. They are available on site at the gate as well but the preferred method is online at the link above.

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.

Fredericksburg’s STEM Academy/Rocket Program-Spring Term Update #3 (April 1-April 30)

May is here and time is running out for the Fredericksburg STEM Academy as launch dates approach for the junior and senior groups. Juniors have a May 18th test date at Rockets 2017 in Willow City. While the seniors are down to less than 3 weeks as Redbird 18 is scheduled for completion two weeks before school ends to allow for preliminary systems tests.Due to delays in manufacturing, testing will have to occur in the process of construction as components come in. Final testing will be the week of June 19th prior to their test at WSMR the following week. It is slated to launch at White Sands Missile Range on June 27th.

During April the seniors tested Low Density polyethylene (LDPE) three times on teststand. Data on all tests was consistent and exemplary. Currently the injector plate is being drilled again to increase the oxidizer flow rate to the correct value to provide for complete combustion. Due to this testing is on hold. Lately they have been experimenting with different ablative arrangements. The ablative has burned through slightly but not enough to damage the test cell.

Below is an actual video of an engine burn test. This one of the first video’s with HD video quality and audio. The regularly captured video does not have audio embedded. This is good for them too as they do these tests for NASA and this gives them something more to show of their work.

https://goo.gl/photos/78HwtXxx8rytjxSV7

Mr. Matthes had this to say about this particular burn, “It looks pretty good but we’re only getting about 1/3 of the oxidizer we should be getting so it is fuel rich. It will not be as orange when we get the oxidizer flow rate correct. The hope is that it is a really clean plume with mach diamonds in the plume.”

The senior’s “junior teststand” nick named “Baby Bird” is almost complete. They hope to conduct their first ever test on this new teststand possibly late this week. This teststand was created by the seniors starting last year during junior studies to test a fuel grain system designed and developed by them to interface with the hyportek injector and tank. They hope to have 3 successful tests on this teststand. If they achieve this, then they get to fly this new system at Willow City in last year’s rocket. At this point, they are getting fuel grains prepped. Pictured below, are nozzles created for Baby Bird.

Redbird 18 still currently does not resemble a rocket, but they are making steady progress. The nozzle has been manufactured, seen here

and the nose cone mold is also back, seen here.

Machining could only be created to within 8 inches of the tip, therefore they created the tip with 3D printing and epoxied it to the nose cone and are preparing it for fiberglass.

Other needed materials are in and have been sent out to Heartland Enterprises for machining. Currently, Mr. Matthes says that the biggest test coming up will be next week when they pressure test the oxidizer tank.

Juniors are under pressure as the deadline for 100% completion of their rocket is May 11. Meeting this deadline will allow them time to complete their Flight Readiness Reviews (FRR) and be able to high light problems or errors that still exist. Components are coming in and weights on some are different than originally reflected in RockSim. Due to this they are updating their design to accommodate. Currently they are still on the wire between breaking the speed of sound and exceeding the 13,000 feet maximum allowable altitude. Breaking Mach means they also exceed altitude. Staying under 13,000 feet means then they lose their shot at breaking Mach.

Here Chris Calzada is working on RockSim trying to resolve the altitude velocity conundrum.

Meanwhile the Sophomores have been entrusted to work at their own pace to finish their last chapters and projects. Time remaining after completion of these is for 3D printing and modeling. Their learned skills in isometric, creating section views, details and working drawing sets would now allow them to communicate effectively to a machine shop without the need for clarification.

Paul Kucherka, a FISD maintenance man and school function videographer developed an issue with the quadcopter that he uses to video. A few of the sophomores are going to attempt to design and develop a new wiring harness that may provide the solution to Paul’s needs, hopefully by the end of the school year, this would allow him to continue using this equipment for video. In order to do this, a few other sophomores have been creating the multiview of one of the quadcopter’s parts on the 3D printer. Pictured below is the original part they are attempting to recreate.

This article is the seventh in a series, new for this school year ’16/’17 of monthly updates that will follow the Fredericksburg STEM Academy/Rocket program. This school is a participant of the SystemsGo STEM program. This series of articles is intended to support, encourage, and challenge students in the program as they share their working status and accomplishments throughout the year in the program. These publications will be available for tags and re-posting.

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

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.

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