BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- For the third consecutive year, STARBASE Louisiana 2.0 is scheduled to sponsor a team for the American Rocketry Challenge National Finals in Washington, D.C. on May 20.
This year’s team is comprised of Junior ROTC cadets from Haughton High School. Richard Scott, STARBASE Louisiana deputy director, said this year’s team is unique in that it has so many JROTC students.
“Working with DOD STARBASE has made everything possible,” said Joshua Smart, Haughton High School JROTC member.
The HHS sophomore explained that DOD STARBASE has provided all the equipment for 3D printing materials to build and launch their rockets and instructors to mentor the team to be successful.
Smart also said being a part of JROTC has helped.
“We have been complimented on our ability to take instruction and on our conduct,” said Smart. “We need to be able to do all of this by ourselves because they can’t help us in D.C.”
Students must design, build, and launch a model rocket carrying a raw egg to a specified altitude given on the day of competition, stay airborne for 42-45 seconds and return to the ground in two pieces with the egg still intact.
Teams will be given the altitude the day of the event and will need to assemble their rocket to launch according to specified guidelines, said Scott.
Only the top 100 teams, out of 800 this year, qualified for Nationals to compete for their share of more than $100,000 in cash prizes, said Scott. The top 25 teams receive invitations to NASA’s Student Launch workshop and the winning team will represent the U.S. in the International Rocketry Challenge in Paris, France.