{"id":7846,"date":"2014-05-20T01:24:09","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T05:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=7846"},"modified":"2014-05-20T01:24:09","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T05:24:09","slug":"smoke-fire-over-utah-salt-flats-more-on-nasa-student-launch-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=7846","title":{"rendered":"Smoke & Fire over Utah Salt Flats – more on NASA Student Launch competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is a NASA announcement about the Student Launch Challenge<\/a> mentioned here earlier<\/a>:<\/p>\n

‘Smoke and Fire’ Rise Over Utah Salt Flats as
\nStudent Rockets Soar in NASA Challenge May 17
\n<\/a><\/strong>NASA, ATK Present Preliminary Awards<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The 2013-14\u00a0NASA Student Launch<\/a>\u00a0rocketry challenge has come to an end — and brought something new to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Tooele County, Utah, where car and motorcycle enthusiasts regularly watch cutting-edge vehicles put to the test, speeding across the vast, flat expanse.<\/p>\n

On May 17, all eyes there turned upward as 16 student-built rockets, ranging in size from 7-1\/2 feet to 15 feet, soared high into the cloudless blue. Each sophisticated machine carried three working science or engineering payloads. Some roared to altitudes of nearly 20,000 feet. Each successful parachute deployment and vehicle touchdown on the white hardpan was met with cheers and applause from the crowd — which included approximately 250 students from 15 states and some 500 spectators.<\/p>\n

\"lx8w0089[1]\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The social media audience, watching live coverage on\u00a0NASA Television<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0UStream<\/a>\u00a0and following real-time updates onTwitter<\/a>, was equally jovial. One proud father, whose son was part of the team from Mississippi State University in Starkville, summed up the day’s launches on the NASA Student Launch\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0page: “This is awesome!”<\/p>\n

This was the first year the challenge was held at the Utah site. It is organized annually by\u00a0NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center<\/a>\u00a0in Huntsville, Alabama, and sponsored by\u00a0ATK Aerospace Group<\/a>\u00a0of Magna, Utah.<\/p>\n

Teams designed and built their rockets and experiments beginning in the fall of 2013. They maintained websites to document their experience and visited elementary and middle schools in their communities to inspire younger students to pursue the study of technical subjects critical to the work of NASA and the nation.<\/p>\n

Nine preliminary awards were presented at a post-launch banquet May 17. The grand prize — $5,000 from ATK — will be awarded in late May after final post-flight analysis and reviews are complete. This year’s preliminary awards included:<\/p>\n