2017-2018 Project

Troop 17 Presented a National Award by NASA Astronaut and Space Shuttle Pilot Col. Brian Duffy

After placing 11th in US in the 2017 the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC), Troop 17 was invited by NASA to submit a competitive proposal for the advanced Student Launch Initiative program. 11 of our Scouts stepped up the challenge and successfully completed this incredible event.

Our rocket carried an in-flight science payload that measured the thermal insulating performance of three different types of aerogels. The goal was to see how well different sizes of aerogels could insulate the heat of the motor during flight. Our rocket had temperature sensors and an Arduino computer board that acquired temperature data during flight and saved it to an on-board SD card for post-flight retrieval and data analysis.

2017-2018 In-Flight Science Payload Data on Aerogel Thermal Insulation Performance

To the right is a graph that shows our science payload data clearly indicating the aerogel formulation shown in red achieved the best thermal insulation capabilities.

Troop 17 finished the 2017-2018 Student Launch program with a total of three national awards:

First Place, STEM Education Program
Second Place, Altitude
Third Place, Best Looking Rocket Art