Program In Its Fourth Year Will Launch Its Largest Rocket
Ever
Colorado high school students and college interns from across
the nation are getting set to blast high-power rockets and payloads
deep into the Colorado sky as part of a program sponsored by United
Launch Alliance (ULA) and Ball Aerospace & Technologies
Corp.
Now in its fourth year, the high-power rocket event involves
more than 100 Colorado high school students and interns from ULA
and Ball Aerospace, showcasing their collective ingenuity with the
launch of six high-power rockets and 20 payloads on Saturday, July
30, from a launch site near Pueblo, CO. The event will be
highlighted by the launch of the largest rocket to be launched in
Colorado, "The Future" – a 25-foot tall, 300-pound high-power
rocket that will soar up to 10,000 feet into the air. The students
also will launch the 17-foot "Stars 'N' Stripes" rocket, plus four
other rockets. Launch preparations and on-pad viewing of the
rockets begin at 0900 MDT, and the 6 rockets will launch between
1030 and 1200.
Interns from both companies representing the future of the
aerospace industry built the high-power rockets and a variety of
multi-faceted payloads this summer as part of their experience at
their respective companies. A major new addition to this year's
effort has been the work of 14 teams from 11 Colorado high schools,
laboring for months to develop payloads to launch on the rockets.
"The launch of the 'Future' is symbolic in so many ways," said Matt
Smith, ULA's vice president of engineering. "ULA launches missions
that enable us to explore our universe, improve life on Earth and
protect our nation, ensuring a brighter future for us all. These
students are the rocket scientists of tomorrow and thanks to their
hard work and talent, they will continue this legacy for years to
come."
"The Future" and "Stars 'N' Stripes" rockets were built by ULA
summer interns—dubbed SPIRIT (Sky Piercing Intern Rock-It
Team)—in Denver, CO, Decatur, AL, Harlingen TX, Vandenberg
AFB, CA, and Cape Canaveral, FL. This is the fourth year ULA
interns have built and launched high-power rockets as a summer
project and the second year with participation from intern at other
ULA work locations. Twenty distinct payloads were built by summer
interns from ULA and Ball Aerospace in Boulder, CoO, and by 14
teams from 11 Colorado high schools.
"We're very proud of the innovation and teamwork demonstrated
by these talented summer interns. They accomplish so much in the
limited amount of time they have to devote to this project," said
Doug Neam, Ball Aerospace vice president of engineering. "This is
an invaluable, real-world experience with fellow students on how
payloads are conceived, designed and built from start to finish in
the space industry."
The Ball interns, known as BIRST (Ball Intern Rocket Scientist
Team), are delivering four separate payloads for the two larger
rocket launches. They include a remote exploration vehicle meant to
simulate the Mars Pathfinder, a high altitude inflatable viewing
device, an on-board camera/GPS with a possible live feed and an RC
helicopter which will be recovered after landing.
In addition to its formidable size, the Future features a
hand-made carbon fiber composite airframe, two on-board computers,
five video cameras and three engines that are comparable in power
to more than 24,000 model rocket engines, and will carry 14
payloads. The Stars 'N' Stripes rocket features a unique
retro-rocket system designed to fire in reverse to keep the rocket
within FAA-imposed altitude limitations. It will carry two
payloads. The Future will launch at 12 noon, and the Stars 'N'
Stripes will launch at 1045.