STEM – Page 20 – On the Wings of Angels

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.

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.

Rockets 2016-Saturday Report & Sunday Schedule

Stewart’s Hillview Ranch boasted a very packed lawn today as Rockets 2016 continued into its third day of launches. Seven schools launched today for a total of 20 launches.

Our recovery teams ran an 80% recovery rate today bringing in 16 of those 20. Overall the teams are running about 79% for the weekend with 52 of 67 found. After final launches tomorrow the teams will have a chance to go out and hunt down more of the missing rockets. Of course there are a few that are not expected to be found any time soon since they went so far that there was not real line of sight to follow on them. For those we count on good neighbors to return them to SystemsGo if they locate them on their properties out of our viewing and hunting area. Each vehicle has SystemsGo contact information on it just for this reason. There are a few Transonics from the first two days that fall into that category, but we hope to locate a good portion of the missing 15 by the end of the day tomorrow.

The launches went smoothly and quickly again today, very little down time. All crews were kept busy, with the only real break happening due to rain showers late in the afternoon. With this recovery crew there is no such thing as being bored. If you are then you aren’t using your imagination, wit and blank radio space wisely.

Kasy Burow and James Drury were our third and fourth for Team 4 again today, and they made the day entertaining. They also taught Team 3 yesterday that there is no way to beat a team to rockets in their own front yard, whether you are at your spot when they fall or not. I always thought Steve was competitive in this recovery action, but I think the kids might have him beat.

I learned a valuable lesson about my camera battery today. Just because it used to make it through the event on one charge, doesn’t mean that a year later it still will. I ended up having to charge it half way through the day and so missed a lot of the action. I still managed 200 pictures though. Of course they will have to be narrowed down before posting as usual. But the moral is lesson learned, charge the battery whether you think it needs it or not.

Phil Houseal caught up with me today out at the launches for an interview. We talked about how long my family has been involved in this program. A good six years for sure. The first year helping Chelsea with her rocket and watching it launch and from then on helping in recovery here, Houston, and New Mexico.

Before our own involvement in the program we watched it and became interested because Josh Jung, and Melissa Jung our niece and nephew went through the early years. By the time they completed it and Josh started returning as a rep and volunteer from SpaceX, we were hooked and couldn’t wait for our children to take interest and be part of the engineering curriculum. Both girls, Chelsea and Kasey Burow did and are pursuing career paths in engineering fields. Brett is not in the program, but has helped with recovery in past years.

Now Chelsea is the one that returns each year to help with the launches in all three venues. Of course, this year she is missing Willow City because of college finals. She will be in Houston next weekend though.

I can’t believe we are down to one day and 4 rockets left to the Fredericksburg edition of Rockets 2016. I want a job doing this for a living, chasing rockets and then writing about it each day. Life is perfect. Anyone know where I can find one?

Below is the launch schedule for tomorrow, Sunday. There are 2 schools launching a total of 4 rockets tomorrow.

Sunday, May 15, 2016
School Name	# 1st Level Tsiolkovsky	# 2nd Level Oberth
Manor High School Will Davis	2
RL Turner High School (Carrollton) Bill Richardson	1	1






Schools Launching	2
Totals	3	1
May 15^th Total Rockets	4

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.1138090906212039.1073741863.100000334203350&type=3&pnref=story

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

http://livestream.com/accounts/3165037/events/5379565

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

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 and some editorial content will also be posted.

Rockets 2016-Friday Day 2 Report & Saturday Schedule

Friday was a great day for rockets. SystemsGo loaded 25 rockets onto the rails and launched all 25 rockets. Recovery teams were able to bring in 18 from today’s launches and recover a few still out from yesterday’s launches too. Transonics amassed most of those still missing in the field.

It was an amazingly smooth day, the schedule said 8:30 to 5:00 and all launches were done by about 4:30. Everyone involved appeared to be having a great time whether working, volunteering, participating as a school (student or teacher), or spectating.

KXAN news joined us today to conduct interviews with team members and get a feel for what SystemsGo does as well as all the students have to accomplish in order to build and launch these rockets. The report was supposed to air on the 6:00 edition as long as everything went well on the news crews timeline to get it edited and out on the air. It is wonderful to see attention being drawn to what these students are accomplishing, and the futures being built here by SystemsGo and their affiliate high schools.

Here is the link to the KXAN news report:

http://kxan.com/2016/05/13/it-is-rocket-science-students-launch-homemade-rockets-into-the-sky/

Below is the launch schedule for tomorrow, Saturday. There are 7 schools launching a total of 24 rockets tomorrow.

Saturday, May 14, 2016
School Name	# 1st Level Tsiolkovsky	# 2nd Level Oberth
Alamo Heights High School Colin Lang		2
Buinger CTE Academy Michael Skrzynski	1	2
Fort Stockton High School Marcos Mendoza	3
Henrietta High School Doug Underwood	1	1
Northstar High School Byron Appelt	1	2
Northwest High School Elizabeth Mitias	4	1
University High School Dennis Oubre	4	2

Schools Launching	7
Totals	14	10
May 14^th Total Rockets	24

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.1138090906212039.1073741863.100000334203350&type=3&pnref=story

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

http://livestream.com/accounts/3165037/events/5379517

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 and some editorial content will also be posted.

Fredericksburg Rockets 2016-Thursday Day 1 Report & Friday Schedule

Thursday went well. It started off a little slow due to a rain delay and low ceiling. Fortunately, it burned off by lunch time and launches started lining up quickly. We had a little issue with quite a few coming down ballistic so that made recovery difficult on some where there wasn’t much visual or tracking. All in all we still had an 80% recovery rate with only 4 left in the field. Hopefully they will still be recovered before the end of the weekend.

This year is a special treat for us. We have a third party in our recovery team. Our Navy daughter is home on leave, and joined us to work recovery. We had a real good time. There was a lot of goofing around during breaks in the action. Her dad and her were quite entertaining to watch as they had plant war, trying to pelt each other with beggers lice bushes, and other burr covered plants.

Once again SystemsGo has a truly talented group of team members and volunteers that put full effort into a great experience for all the students involved.

We have a shadow group from New Mexico this year. They have recently come online with the program and are helping in all areas to try to learn and mimic what we do here in order to replicate it in New Mexico starting next year. Here’s a great shout out to them and their group, it is wonderful to have them here and on board with SystemsGo.

Below is the launch schedule for tomorrow, Friday. There are 8 schools launching a total of 25 rockets tomorrow.

Friday, May 13, 2016
School Name	# 1st Level Tsiolkovsky	# 2nd Level Oberth
Akins High School John Sayce	6
Fabens High School Manny Moreno	3	1
Hardin-Jefferson High School Mike Fogo	2	1
Hollenstein Career & Tech Center Richard Griffith	2	2
Maypearl High School James Herrod	1
McGregor High School Chris Kuhl	1	1
Tom Moore (Ingram) High School David Bunch	2
Union Grove High School Greg Park	2	1




Schools Launching	8
Totals	19	6
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.1137664469588016.1073741862.100000334203350&type=3

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/accounts/3165037/events/5367166

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 and some editorial content will also be posted.

Fredericksburg Rockets 2016-Thursday, Day 1

Tomorrow is the start of Fredericksburg Rockets 2016. There is a 30-50% chance of thunderstorms all day tomorrow with a front moving through the area, so be sure and bring your rain gear.

Below is the schedule for tomorrows launches, There are currently 11 schools with a total of 21 rockets scheduled. I will try to post each days schedules in this blog.

Thursday, May 12, 2016
School Name	# 1st Level Tsiolkovsky	# 2nd Level Oberth
Birdville CTAL Lynn Barrett	2	2
Fredericksburg High School Andrew Matthes		1
Granger High School Chaston Kubacak	1
Hamilton High School Seaborn Ashby	1	1
Harleton HS Karen Brasher	1
Heritage High School Rebekah Hyatt	1
Kingwood High School Louis Mascolo	3	1
Marble Falls High School Randy Guffey	1
New Diana High School Shawn Warden		1
New Tech Odessa High School Richard Lindner	2
Roosevelt High School Jessica Quisenberry	2	1
11
Schools Launching
Totals	14	7
May 12^th Total Rockets	21

Good luck to all the schools. 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/accounts/3165037/events/5367166

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.

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

Rockets 2016 Only a Day Away!

The start of Rockets 2016 is just over the horizon, so now is the time to send out some reminders. The Fredericksburg launches will be held at Stewart’s Hillview Ranch in Willow City Texas. Launch days begin Thursday, May 12, continuing on Friday, May 13, Saturday, May 14 and ending on Sunday evening, May 15.

Launch times are slated to be from 8:30 to 5:00 each day provided that everything runs accordingly with weather, arrivals, and mechanical readiness. Unfortunately weather could be an issue. Right now thunderstorms are predicted for Thursday and Sunday. Of course, it is Texas weather so anything goes, and so will the rockets at each opportunity Mother Nature provides. Rain does not stop this event, only delays it until the clouds give another clear opening. That does not account for severe weather conditions that would have to be dealt with as they happen for the safety of all.

Both sites are located north of Fredericksburg off Farm to Market road 1323. Site 1 for Exhibitors and Rocket Prep is located in Willow City at the Willow City Volunteer Fire Department, located at 2553 Ranch Road 1323 . Site 2, the vehicle Launch Site is located at Hillview Ranch. Signs will be stationed along the route to direct from State Highway 16 to the individual sites. The following is a map provided by SystemsGo website for driving directions and site locations.

SystemsGo offers live streaming of this event provided by Livestream.com . The following link offers the site location for this feed. It will be active by 9:00 a.m. on Thursday morning for viewing and comments. This link can also be found on the SystemsGo website.

http://livestream.com/accounts/3165037/events/5367166

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

https://www.greateventseats.com/events.php?lID=92

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.

Fredericksburg/SystemsGo’s STEM Program Launches More than Rockets

As Fredericksburg Rockets 2016 counts down 2 more days until launch, this now 20-year-old program boasts much more than just building and blasting rockets skyward. This Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) program has bolstered the careers of many Texas young adults.

Hands on learning experience in STEM career basics like Engineering and Technology, Engineering Design and Presentation, Advanced Engineering Design and Presentation, Engineering Design and Problem Solving, and research and development, in a course setting that promotes project application has inspired many of our Fredericksburg students, as well as students across the state of Texas to follow a career in the STEM or business fields. Rockets may have been the catalyst that helped to teach them these skills along with other fundamental work place uses including teamwork, critical thinking, analysis, testing, leadership, innovation, invention, individual accountability, and work place compatibility, but the program itself was the deciding factor that created a lasting interest for these individuals to pursue related career fields.

Many students have gone through the program in the last 20 years, just here in Fredericksburg, let alone schools all across Texas that have been using this same model from SystemsGo. Unfortunately there is no recorded number to tell us how many, but just at an average of 17 students per class per grade level, that is approximately 1100 students here in Fredericksburg alone. Multiply that by 43 active schools currently on the list of participants that have joined the program over the last 20 years, and that is a lot of Texas students whose lives have been impacted by the program. New Mexico schools may soon be joining this program as well so that number will increase even more as the program expands outside of Texas.

The following, is just a handful of individuals, some from the early years of the program and some from more recent years. All of them credit the SystemsGo program for encouraging them and helping them to achieve where they are today.

Robert Deaver: FHS graduate 1998, BS in Electrical Engineering at University of Texas at San Antonio, MS in Computer Engineering at University of Tennessee. He was in the SystemsGo program in the first two years of it beginning and worked on the design, construction and flights of Redbird 1 and Redbird 2. He is currently an Electronics Engineer at Real Time Systems in Fredericksburg and a Team member of SystemsGo. Previously he worked at IBM and Dell.

Josh Jung: FHS graduate 1999, BS in Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering at Purdue University. He spent sophomore through senior years in the SystemsGo program working five Redbird rockets including:

RB-2: 8″ diam, 15′ tall, M-engine, 3 experimental recovery systems
RB-3: 2.5″ diam, 6.5′ tall, K-engine, Mach -1 rocket
RB-6: 3.5″ diam, 6′ tall, Mach-2 rocket (summer project)
RB-7H: 8″ diam, 20′ tall, hybrid engine, WSMR first attempt
RB-8H: 8″ diam, 27′ tall, hybrid engine, WSMR flight (upgraded the RB-7H)

Josh is currently the Director of the Falcon 9 Stage Test at SpaceX. He has previously been the Director of Ground Support Equipment, and Director of the Texas Test Site also at SpaceX.

Melissa Jung: FHS graduate 2001, undergraduate studies in Engineering at University of Illinois, ACOG in San Antonio, Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes Illinois. She was in the SystemsGo program her sophomore through senior years.

Melissa is currently working as an Avionics Electronics specialist on airplanes in the US Navy stationed in Norfolk, VA. Previously she worked as a patrol officer in the Fredericksburg Police Department.

Chelsea Burow: FHS graduate 2012, currently working on her BS at Texas Tech University in Physics with a Mechanical Engineering minor . Chelsea was in the SystemsGo program her junior and senior year. Their group built and launched RB-12.

She is unsure about her plans after graduation, but is looking into places like SpaceX, NASA, and SystemsGo. She continues to help with the SystemsGo launches to current date.

Derrick Loth: FHS graduate 2012, currently working on a dual major in Business Finance and Business Management at Texas Tech University. He was in the SystemsGo program his junior and senior years. He was part of the team that built and launched RB-12.

He graduates May 2016 and plans to work for the FDIC as a Federal Bank Examiner.

Kasey Burow: FHS graduate 2013, attended Basic Training at the Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, IL. She was in the SystemsGo program her sophomore through senior years.

She is currently in the US Navy stationed at the Norfolk Naval Station in Norfolk,VA. She is an Aviation Structural Mechanic on Sea Dragon helicopters in Helmineron 12 & 14.

Austin Walters: FHS graduate 2014, attends the University of Texas at San Antonio, and is working on a dual Bachelors in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. He was in the first full 4 year program offered by SystemsGo at FHS. He helped build and launch RB-15.

He plans to work for one of the Aerospace companies like SpaceX after graduation.

Anissa Kneese: FHS graduate 2014, currently attending Texas A&M. She is studying Mechanical Engineering. She was also in the first full 4 year SystemsGo program at FHS. She also helped build and launch RB-15.

She would like to work for one of the Aerospace companies after graduation. She continues to help at each year’s SystemsGo rocket launches.

While trying to find information on individuals for this piece I found the following link by Shaun Pyka done somewhere around the 2012-2013 school year. It show cases a slide show of many more past students and where they were at the time. Some of the work information may not be current anymore, but is still gives a good idea of how much this program has impacted the lives of its students.

http://slidegur.com/doc/1128314/shaun-pyka—systemsgo

More event details will be available here in upcoming days as launch dates get closer. Daily reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted during the events.

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.

Day 62- SystemsGo Team Ends Another Successful Year

The SystemsGo team traveled home from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico today. They left Alamogordo around 0800 and arrived safely in Fredericksburg around 1845.

They have now completed another successful year with launches in Houston, Willow City, and WSMR. The group helped students attempt the launches of over 90 Tchaikovsky and Oberth rockets and 6 Goddard level rockets.

Now they take a short needed break before getting fired up for a new year with more schools, students and rockets. It won’t be long and the “launch season” will be back again.

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 Thursday’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, Brett Williams (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).

Day 61-Rockets at WSMR-Final Launch Day-Update

Today was the final launch day at WSMR for this year’s participating schools. Alamo Heights High School was scheduled for launches of two separate rockets today, one that they were unable to launch while at WSMR last year, and a new one from this year’s class. Union Grove was on standby for a second attempt if time permitted.

The SystemsGo team and the high schools had another early start to the day arriving at WSMR at 0400, with an eight hour window for launches. Transition times between launches were running at two hours each, which allowed all three launch attempts to be completed quickly, everything to be packed up, and the group off the range by 1800.

Alamo Heights started off with their new rocket at the pad. They had a successful fill, fire, and launch. The vehicle climaxed at 17,000 feet, and then nosed over and came down ballistic. What was recovered from it was in pieces.

Alamo Height second rocket, the return from last year took the pad next. It too had a successful fill, fire, and launch, leaving the pad behind and reaching an altitude of 34,000 feet. This rocket also came down ballistic, and they were only able to recover the motor section.

Union Grove was able to attempt a second launch. They had a successful fill, which ended in a vehicle malfunction that caused the injector system to open but no ignition. Speculation is that the Estes motor inside with the electric match did not light because of a possible wire short in the rocket.

That concluded the launch series at WSMR for this year. To recap out of six vehicles, there were two successful launches each with failed recovery systems. One more low altitude launch with in flight mechanical failure causing premature landing and continued burn out. One complete hang fire on the rail. And two scratched due to vehicle malfunctions at fill.

Congratulations to all five schools for getting this far. There are schools every year that aspire to be here, and do not make it. You have accomplished a great deal. You have all met the objective of the program which is to create a scratch built rocket, have it completed and ready for flight, and on the rail attempting launch at White Sands Missile Range. The goal of flight, may have been elusive, or perhaps achieved but still problematic, but you made it here, and each of you has something to learn from the event and some will have the chance to study, fix and try again. All of you are in an elite group of past and present students that attempted to launch a rocket at WSMR.

Tomorrow is another long day of travel as the SystemsGo team and participating schools all head back to Texas. Hopefully it will be a safe, smooth trip home without any issues.

That concludes Wednesday’s WSMR Rocket update.

Tune in again tomorrow for an update from Thursday’s trip home from White Sands Missile Range this week.

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