MISSION SIMULATION AND INTEGRATION EXERCISE
by Vince Huegele
Lesson Objective: To illustrate the scientific and engineering process by having students work as teams acting as the various NASA centers for a launch to complete a class model rocket project in one week. Many aspects of science and engineering are demonstrated, such as observation, measurement, and testing, in concert with cooperation and group interaction skills.
Mission: To successfully launch in a model rocket and recover unbroken several different size and weight eggs and determine the respective altitudes.
Materials needed: Egg carrying model rocket kits or plans, modeling tools to build rocket, various packing materials, rocket launcher and firing system, rocket motors, altitude trackers, notebooks, weight scale, eggs.
Students will form teams to perform the following specific tasks.
Kennedy Space Center
KSC Launch team- Operate firing system and launcher.
Johnson Space Center
JSC Payload team - develop technique for packing egg in capsule.
Marshall Space Flight Center
MSFC Rocket team - build rocket.
Goddard Space Flight Center
GSFC Altitude Tracking team- track rocket flights and compute altitudes.
Headquarters
HQS Integration team - manage overall mission
Class will follow this schedule of daily accomplishments
DAY 1
Establishment, assignment of teams, selection of team leaders, overview of responsibilities, mission preview. A team status report will be given each day.
DAY 2
Rocket team- begin construction of model
Payload - examine various packing materials
Tracking - study trig calculations to be used
Launch - inspect, test launch equipment
Managers - will follow progress of each team every day and verify they stay on schedule, resolve problems
DAY 3
Rocket - continue building, complete fin attachment
Payload - practice wrapping, sizing, packing eggs, decide on packaging technique
Launch - determine launcher location at field
Tracking - lay out baseline, familiarization with tracker device
DAY 4
Rocket- finish rocket, painting
Payload - test packaging by drop, select and weigh flight eggs
Launch - fire a small rocket at field
Tracking - practice tracking the test rocket
Pre-launch review
DAY 5 LAUNCH DAY
Payload - install egg in capsule, remove after flight
Rocket - pack parachute, inspect rocket, prep for flight
Launch - launch and recover rocket
Tracking - track flights, compute altitudes
(repeat for each egg)
A sixth day could be used for discussion, report presentation and opinion, or day 3 could be combined with day 2 with discussion on 5 to complete the task in a week.
Grade could be determined by each student answering certain questions and writing a paper describing their understanding of their specific role and how it related to the whole mission, as well as how the launch was successful, (or not.)
Questions:
How did the weight of the different eggs affect their altitude in the rocket flight? Show on a chart.
What changes to the rocket could be made to improve soft landing of the egg?
What would be a better way to organize the mission?
Vince Huegele is a physicist at the MSFC where he also teaches model rocketry classes. He has been active in model rocketry since 1966.