Rocket club reaches new heights

by Steven Cooper, The Independent

A Clark pre-flight launch was conducted in April 2014 in eastern Oregon. This year, the Aerospace Club again participated in the NASA Launch competition.

Fresh from a NASA rocket competition in Alabama in early April, the Clark Aerospace Club is preparing to switch from club to program status, allowing more flexibility with funding.

The club will officially upgrade to program status July 1, 2015. Founded in spring 2011, the Aerospace Club has competed in the NASA Student Launch competition every year since.

For the NASA event this year, Clark students built a 10-foot, 35-pound rocket capable of reaching a maximum velocity of 393 feet per second, creating nearly 13 G’s and more than 300 pounds of thrust.

During the competition in Huntsville, Ala., Clark’s rocket reached an altitude of 2,568 feet—short of the 3,000-foot goal outlined in the competition rules, said Zach Lemberg, the club’s vice president. The rocket performed nearly perfect, but the payload compartment door opened slightly and may have contributed to the lower altitude.

“It increased the drag and tilted the rocket,” said Lemberg.

Read more (The Independent)