Rocket Season – On the Wings of Angels

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

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.

#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.

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

#Rockets2017 #SystemsGo #Launcher01 #FredericksburgSTEMAcademy

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Day 348-Rocket Season Launches in 21 Days

Only 21 days until the sounds of high-flying rockets fill the air over Willow City, TX with the launch of Fredericksburg Rockets 2016. SystemsGo’s innovative STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) program featuring a rocketry/aeroscience curriculum is set to begin launches on May 12-15, 2016 at the Stewart Ranch in Willow City, TX.

As of March 9, the Fredericksburg launch schedule has 78 vehicles on track for testing. Twenty-nine schools are slated to participate.

The following weekend, May 21-22, 2016 launches continue in Houston, TX. The current schedule there, includes 12 schools and 27 test vehicles.

Later this summer, at White Sands Missile Range the final days of launches will commence with the Goddard level rockets, the largest in the program. The final date determined by White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), is yet to be announced.

If you are in the Willow City area on the mentioned weekend you should come out and watch. It is a fantastic sight to behold, and the energy and enthusiasm from the students is fun and contagious. Fredericksburg launches are open for public viewing and both Fredericksburg and Houston have live streaming available to view online at the time of the event.

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.

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