Farnborough, England – A student rocket contest showdown is on tap during the Farnborough International Airshow, as the United States champion team takes on the winners from the United Kingdom in a final fly-off.
The 2008 Team America Rocketry Challenge winners from Enloe High School in Raleigh, North Carolina will face off against the squad from Horsforth Secondary School in Yorkshire, England, which prevailed in the UK Aerospace Youth Rocketry Challenge.
The teams will compete Friday for what has been dubbed the “Trans-Atlantic Trophy.”
It is the first time the winners of the two contests will face each other in competition. The UKAYRoC champions have attended the last two TARC finals near Washington D.C. and launched exhibition rockets.
AIA member company Raytheon is funding the fly-off and paid for the U.S. team to attend the air show as part of Enloe’s first-prize package.
TARC is sponsored by AIA and the National Association of Rocketry, along with about three dozen AIA member companies. UKAYRoC is organized by Tri Polus Ltd. and the UK Rocketry Association.
AIA president and CEO Marion Blakey said the Trans-Atlantic Trophy is a great way to further extend the reach of both rocket contests.
“This fly-off is an exciting way to build on the importance of TARC and UKAYRoC to the teams, their teachers and parents,” Blakey said. “We expect this event to bolster the goal of both contests – attracting young people to careers in the aerospace industry.”
TARC, in its sixth year, and UKAYRoC, in its second year, use identical judging criteria to crown their champions, who design and build the rockets by hand. The rules for the fly-off are the same – get as close to possible to 750 feet in altitude and 45 seconds in duration while returning two raw eggs to the ground unbroken. Each team will have two launches, with the best individual score counting.
The fly-off is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Friday, July 18, which is Youth Day at the show. The launches will occur at Rushmoor Arena, about one mile from the main airfield. Air traffic will be kept away from the site for a launch window of 30 minutes.
