As a cooperative comprehensive project, students from various courses will complete a rocket launch and recovery mission. Spanning across multiple curriculums, students will display and apply working knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Students from grade levels 9-12 in the engineering and aviation pathways have been teamed together in various task groups and given individual missions to complete the overall agenda.
The project launch date will be chosen by the chief engineer (CE) from data contained in the report received from the meteorology team. A performance matrix will be created and placed on the wall inside the labs that shows the expectations and gives deadlines to each team for the expected task. The CE will review progress daily and report weekly to the administration/instructor. On the day of the launch, a representative from each engineering team will conduct a briefing with the CE and present a report of their team’s work. The CE will be in charge of “stamping” each objective and approving the launch based on his/her expectations. The CE will determine an exact launch time and each team will man their stations.
On the time given by the CE, the project will kick off by an automated robotic rocket launch. The robot will be monitored for malfunction from inside the control station using footage from Drone A. Team A from inside the control station will control drone A. Once the rocket has left the ground, Drone team B will monitor the rocket in flight to ensure the objectives of the rocket engineering team are met and to confirm the landing zone. The logistics team will then communicate the relocation of Drone A to monitor the movement of the recovery team. The recovery team use data feed from Drone B to get to the recovery zone and back undetected. Communication between each of the 8 teams will be conducted using ham radio.
After the mission is complete, the engineering teams will conduct a debriefing and discuss the role of each crew. A data report will be created from mission reports presented by each team. A discussion will occur about what went well throughout the mission and recommendations will be made for improvements. The team will be given an overall score/grade by the CE. Finally, the team will compile all notes, sketches, images, video, documentation, research, etc. into an engineering brief. The CE will then present the final results to the administration with a copy of the brief.
