Top 100 Teams Will Compete In Washington, D.C. Area This
Spring
More than 600 teams from 48 states and the District of Columbia
are preparing their hand-designed model rockets to qualify for the
ninth annual Team America Rocketry Challenge May 14. This year's
roster includes teams from many schools that are venerable veterans
as well as 161 teams that are joining the competition for the first
time.
The contest is sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association
and the National Association of Rocketry, in collaboration with the
Defense Department; NASA; the American Association of Physics
Teachers; Estes, a rocket motor manufacturer, and more than 30
industry partners. The contest aims to inspire middle and high
school students to further study and choose careers in science,
math and engineering. "TARC builds on students' skills and
enthusiasm for designing, creating and flying rockets, and
introduces them to college and career opportunities in STEM
fields," said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey. "With 60
percent of the current workforce over age 45, we see TARC
participants as the future of the aerospace industry."
Each three- to 10-person team is challenged to design and build
a rocket that will rise to an altitude of 750 feet during a 40- to
45-second flight carrying a raw egg, which must return to the
ground undamaged. Teams have until April 4 for their qualifying
flights, with NAR representatives across the country judging each
entry. The challenge culminates May 14 when the 100 teams with the
best qualifying scores compete at the finals at Great Meadow in The
Plains, VA, near Washington D.C.
TARC's impact on the workforce pipeline reveals progress in an
industry in need of skillful, knowledgeable young professionals. In
a 2010 survey of TARC alumni, approximately 80 percent of
respondents plan to pursue a college major in an area related to
science, math or engineering. "A lot of my friends joined TARC in
my senior year, and I tried it and really liked it," said 2006 TARC
Alumnus Johnna Esposito. "Little did I know it actually led me to
aerospace engineering at Virginia Tech and now I'm hoping for an
aerospace career too."
Teams are competing for up to $60,000 in scholarships and
prizes; $15,000 in additional scholarships is furnished by Lockheed
Martin Corporation. Raytheon Company provides funding for the
winning team to attend an international fly-off at the Paris Le
Bourget Air Show in June against teams from the UK and France.
Marion Blakey
Founded in 1919 shortly after the birth of flight, the Aerospace
Industries Association is the most authoritative and influential
trade association representing the nation's leading manufacturers
and suppliers of civil, military and business aircraft,
helicopters, unmanned aircraft systems, space systems, aircraft
engines, homeland and cybersecurity systems, materiel and related
components, equipment services and information technology.