Menu
Students learn from failed rocket launch
FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Although the planned launch of a high-power rocket designed and built by members of the Fort Scott Community College physics club and their instructor fizzled on Thursday, everyone involved said they learned much from the class project.
"We studied the characteristics of a rocket," student member Josh Mathis said. "There's a lot of mathematics involved. We learned what you need to build a stable rocket."
Elie Riachi, physics instructor and sponsor of the FSCC physics club, said the class project started this semester and involved four student club members. Members spent many hours working outside of the College Physics I class, meeting once a week since early November to design and build the rocket "from scratch," he said.
Riachi said members would usually spend about two hours discussing the design of the rocket and the different phases and stages of its construction.
"There was a lot of research and learning," he said.
The project was completed in addition to the students' regular coursework. Each club member who participated in the project through its completion got an extra 5-percentage points added to their class grade.
"The whole idea is to show them how physics is applied to engineering, and give them that hands-on experience that they need," Riachi said.
While club members said they were excited Thursday that construction of the rocket was finished, they hoped for a successful launch in order to complete the project. But after a few attempts in a field outside of town failed due to two faulty igniters on Thursday, the group decided to postpone it until next spring.
The club has launched smaller rockets in past years during FSCC's Community Appreciation Day in April. The larger field was required to launch the larger rocket, Riachi said.
"The larger the motor gets, the larger the launch site has to be," he said. "The diameter of the site has to be a quarter of a mile and clear of homes and residence areas."
Members of the club said the project required a group effort.
Club member Thayer Banwart said he was interested in learning how different components of the rocket are designed.
"We bounced ideas off each other and worked as a group," he said.
Member Shane Hammer said the project required much problem solving by the group, as well as a good knowledge of physics and math. Hammer said Riachi taught the group several concepts and supervised them, but students shared ideas and worked among themselves to complete a majority of the rocket's design and construction.
"You feel like you helped make the rocket and didn't just watch him (Riachi) do it, which he certainly could," Hammer said.
The rocket is made mainly of plastic tubing, except for the nose cone, which is made of polypropylene. It measures about two inches in diameter, stands about 36 inches in height and weighs about 1.5 pounds. It contains an altimeter to measure altitude and record flight data and speed.
Riachi said the rocket went through some modifications since its initial design. It uses a composite engine and solid fuel, the latter of which is "the same stuff NASA uses.
"It's a commercial motor that one can buy," he said. "It's the largest one can purchase without having a permit."
Once the rocket is airborne and reaches its maximum height of about 450 feet, it splits into two sections and ejects two parachutes -- the lower section releases a drogue parachute that begins to slow the rocket down, and the upper section releases a main parachute that slows it down even more and is designed to protect the rocket during landing, Riachi said.
"A rocket without parachutes is very dangerous," he said.
The rocket launches at a speed of 25 mph and reaches a maximum speed of about 213 mph, but is "much slower coming down," Riachi said.
As a precaution, anyone witnessing the launch must stand at least 50 feet away from the launch site. The rocket is launched remotely from about the same distance using an ignition control box.