Kenowa Hills — Before launching into summer vacation, Kenowa Hills High School STEM Academy students launched homemade rockets into the sky.
STEM teachers Steven Feutz and Jeremy Cusick took a group of students out to Schwallier’s Country Basket in Sparta to launch their final projects made from rocket fuel, 3D printers and creative designs.
The students designed their rockets using computer-aided design (CAD) software and to find the center of gravity and center of lift, Feutz said. Then, they used 3D printers to create all of the individual parts and cast the nozzles out of cement.
“The nose cone is the top piece and the big ol’ part in the middle is where you store the engine and the rocket fuel,” freshman Jayden Scarberry explained. “The engine mount keeps it from tipping over.”
Freshman Zach Maczinski added that there were some legal limitations for how they could build the rockets, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and National Association of Rocketry.
“We could only build ‘class one’ model rockets; they could only weigh so much and use so much fuel,” he said.
3, 2, 1, Liftoff
“Who’s going to be the first guinea pig?” Feutz asked his students, who split into three groups for the launches — one station 200 feet away from the launch site, another at 300 feet and the brave few to light the fuses.
The students watching the launches from more than 100 feet away were responsible for using a gravity protractor to record the angle of the launch, calculate the average altitude of two launches and estimate the rocket’s trajectory.
Feutz also brought a drone to record live footage of the launches, which the students could watch later.
Freshman Emerson Bergman was the first to set up her group’s rocket on the launch pad. Each rocket’s design included two places to slide a narrow metal pole through to hold it upright for launch.
After securing the rocket, Emerson lit the fuse and ran out of the way. A few seconds later, the rocket was airborne and flew over the fields.
“That was insane! That was a good one,” one student exclaimed.
“That one’s gone. Home run!” said another.
“Straight up and straight down is the goal, and the higher the rocket goes the better, like launching a rocket into space,” freshman Amelia James said.
Freshman Destiny Marckini added, “In theory we’re supposed to recover them after the launch, but in practice it’s very rare that we find them.”
The final group to launch failed to glue on the end cap that seals in the fuel, unfortunately, and their rocket exploded into several pieces.
“Yeah, that’s important,” freshman Ryan Ward said. “If you don’t cover your engine, moisture gets in and you end up with a smoke bomb.”
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