Team America Rocketry Challenge

Overview

AAPT is proud to be the sole Educational Partner for the 2009 Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC). Now in its seventh year, TARC is the world’s largest rocket design launch contest with approximately 7000 students participating each year. It is sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and the National Association of Rocketry in partnership with AAPT, DoD, NASA, and AIA member companies. The goal is to encourage middle school and high school students in their science and math studies and to consider advanced study of these fields in college and beyond. Through TARC, students learn the basics of physics and of engineering design used by scientists and engineers in the real world.

The Challenge
Students must design, build, and fly a one-stage model rocket carrying one raw egg to an altitude of exactly 750 feet while staying airborne for exactly 45 seconds and returning the egg uncracked. The process of designing, building, and flying a moderately complex flight vehicle teaches many concepts of teamwork as well as those of physics, engineering, aerodynamics, flight mechanics, stability, and electrical circuitry. After completing local qualification flights, the top 100 U.S.-based teams are invited to Virginia for a national final fly-off. This year, the final competition will be held on May 16, 2009 at the Great Meadow Outdoor Foundation in The Plains, Virginia.

Prizes
Prizes include $60,000 in cash and scholarships split between the top 10 finishers. NASA invites the top 20 teams to participate in their Student Launch Initiative, an advanced rocketry program. AIA member companies, such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have sponsored additional prizes such as scholarship money and a trip to an international air show.

Lesson Plan Contest

AAPT, in cooperation with the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC), seeks to identify best practices for implementing model rocketry into both the formal instructional classroom as well as the informal activities of clubs such as the 4-H, Boy & Girl Scouts, and other after school programs. Teachers and/or coaches of teams participating in the 2009 TARC are invited to submit lesson plans or similar documents describing their team’s activities, planning, and experiments undertaken while preparing for the 2009 TARC competition.

For more information about the contest, please visit www.rocketcontest.org.