Unique NASA Opportunity to
Design, Build, and Launch High-Power Rockets
The Minnesota Space Grant Consortium (MnSGC), working with the Tripoli MN High Power Rocketry Club, hereby announces the 2024-2025 Space Grant Midwest High-Power Rocketry Competition. The fly-off will be held in Minnesota, but this competition is open to college and university student teams from across the nation during the 2024-2025 academic year. This competition is an opportunity for students to design and construct high-power rockets, to be launched in May 2025 from a Tripoli high-power rocket club launch site just north of Minneapolis.
No previous experience in high-power rocketry is necessary to compete!
Up to 30 college and university teams, sponsored by their state’s Space Grant organization, will be accepted into this competition.
A “Notice of Intent to Compete” form must be filed by September 15, 2024, hard deadline. Send form by e-mail to James Flaten, Minnesota Space Grant, flate001@umn.edu
A kickoff informational videocon about the Space Grant Midwest Competition for teams planning to spend the full academic year on this project will be held starting at 7 p.m. CDT on Monday, September 9, 2024.
Contact James Flaten at flate001@umn.edu for call-in details.
Local Space Grant Support
Interested teams from any state, not just those in the Space Grant Great (Lakes) Midwest Region, are required to garner local Space Grant “sponsorship” (this might or might not involve financial support, depending on the state) and submit a non-binding “Notice of Intent to Compete” to the MnSGC by September 15, 2024, in which they list the team’s student members and student’s certification level (if any), team name, and a committed faculty adviser.
Note – institutions not planning to start until Spring 2025 still should also submit a Notice of Intent to Compete by September 15, 2024, naming a faculty adviser (so that we know who to send updates to.) Teams are also required to consult with a non-student mentor who has high-power rocketry experience and is Level 2 certified (or higher). Competition organizers can help teams find certified high-power rocketry mentors, if need be.
This kick-off and informational videocon will be repeated on Thursday, January 9, 2025, for teams working just during the winter and spring terms. A registration fee of $400 per team, due by January 31, 2025, will be charged to cover competition costs, of which just over $100 will be applied toward the purchase of two AeroTech H550 DMS motors for use at the in-person competition fly-off.
Motor(s) for test flights need to be ordered along with the Notice of Intent to Compete and paid for with registration. States sponsoring two or three teams will be expected to provide one judge for written and oral reports and the (in-person) competition fly-off. States fielding four or more teams may be asked to provide two judges.
2024-2025 “High-Thrust Challenge”
(summary description)
Students teams will design and construct single motor, single-stage, high-power rocket(s) and fly twice during the competition.
This year the challenges are:
(A) Have the first flight (may be single-deploy or dual-deploy) go to exactly 1000 feet above ground level on an H550 motor,
(B) Have the second flight (must be dual-deploy) go as high as possible on an H550 motor, and
(C) Have both flights carry a “non-commercial” (i.e. not sold for rocketry) data-logging sensor suite and use it to deduce altitude, speed, and acceleration during ascent, all as a function of time (not just maximum values), in at least three independent ways (barometric pressure, acceleration, gps) at as high a sampling frequency as possible, then analyze the pros and cons of the different approaches (see more details in handbook).
All competition flights will use an AeroTech H550ST-14A (high-thrust) DMS motor.
Bonus points will be given to:
(1) Teams whose member(s) increase their certification level(s) using individually-built rockets (in parallel with the (team-built) competition rocket(s)),
(2) Teams that also implement a 2-pressure-sensor pitot tube system as a fourth performance characterization approach, and
(3) Teams that do both flights using a single rocket – internal modifications (parachute, ballast, etc.) are allowed between flights, but not external modifications (to merit bonus points in this category).
Additional details about the competition are included in a handbook, including due dates and report content/page limits. Note: All fabrication work on the rocket(s), except for possibly machining of plastic and/or metal parts, must be performed by students.
The competition will include two written reports about the design, analysis, simulation, build, and test flight results of the competition rocket, an oral presentation, plus a written assessment of competition flight data and results.
These will be scored by a panel of professional engineers from both academia and industry. Scoring of the pre-fly-off reports and the post-flight reports will focus on rocket design and performance.
A competition handbook, including a more-extensive description of the challenge rules, will be posted by September 9, 2024.
More details about the competition motors, reports, and deadlines will be described in the competition handbook and discussed during the informational videocons.
Logistical questions may be directed to James Flaten, Minnesota Space Grant and University of Minnesota Twin Cities, flate001@umn.edu.
Technical questions may be directed to Gary Stroick, Tripoli MN High-Power Rocketry Club, president@offwegorocketry.com.
Important Dates
- Kick-off informational videocon: Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, from 7–8 p.m. CDT (repeated Thursday, January 9, 2025 from 7–8 p.m. CST). Contact James Flaten at flate001@umn.edu for call-in information)
- Submit a (non-binding) “Notice of Intent to Compete” and test-flight motor order (probably one or more H550 motors) by September 15, 2024. (This deadline applies even to schools that plan to form their team later than September 15, 2024.)
- A non-refundable $400 Team Registration Fee is due by January 31, 2025, just over $100 of which will be applied toward the purchase of two AeroTech H550 DMS competition motors
- In-person Competition Dates: Presentations & Safety Checks on Saturday, May 17, 2025* (mid-afternoon & evening); flights on Sunday, May 18, 2025* (all day, plus an evening banquet (even if we have not flown))
- Alternate (weather-delay) Flight Date: Monday, May 19, 2025*(as long as needed)
*If Minnesota has a particularly wet spring and the launch site clearly will not be useable by mid-May, the competition dates might need to shift. This will be announced as far in advance as is practical. See details in the handbook.
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Minnesota College and University
High-Power Rocketry Challenge
Teams from Minnesota colleges and universities who are new to high-power rocketry might want to consider the (easier) Minnesota College and University High-Power Rocketry Challenge being run in parallel. Here is a 14-minute promo video about that option.
An informational videocon about the Minnesota Rocketry Challenge will be held starting at 8 p.m. CDT on Monday, September 9, 2024. Contact James Flaten at flate001@umn.edu for call-in details. A Notice of Intent form must be filed by September 15, 2024 (hard deadline).
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