Team America Rocket Challenge 2024

Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) is an aerospace design and engineering event for teams of US secondary school students (7th through 12th grades) run by the NAR and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). Teams can be sponsored by schools or by nonprofit youth organizations such as Scouts, 4-H, or Civil Air Patrol (but not the NAR or other rocketry organizations).

The goal of TARC is to motivate students to pursue aerospace as an exciting career field, and it is co-sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers, Estes Industries, the Department of Defense, and NASA.

2024 Team America Rocketry Challenge registration is now open at rocketcontest.org. Teams may register anytime between before and December 1, 2023.

The objective of the 2024 challenge is to design, build, and fly a safe and stable model rocket to an altitude of exactly 820 feet while also achieving a total flight duration of between 43 and 46 seconds and returning a payload of one raw hen's egg undamaged in a rocket that keeps all sections connected/tethered from launch to landing and recovers by parachute. This is the challenge that is in effect for teams while they are doing locally-observed “qualification flights” to earn an invitation to the National Finals. The rocket’s external structure must use body tubes of two different diameters, each no less than 150 millimeters in length. The upper body tube must be no greater than 57 millimeters in diameter (this is T- 70 tube) and the lower body tube must be no less than 63.5 millimeters in diameter. The total length of the rocket must be no less than 650 millimeters. The egg and altimeter may be located at any place in the rocket. Teams may make up to three official “qualification flight” attempts by April 8, 2024 and the scores from the best two of these will be added to determine national rankings, with 100 teams receiving the invitation (see the rules for more detail on how this works).

LUNAR is honored to support the TARC qualification launches again this year. TARC teams are welcome to participate in the regularly scheduled club launches including those at Brigantino Park. The launch fees are waived for all TARC teams. As the deadline approaches in April, special TARC only launches will be scheduled.

LUNAR has a TARC mailing list for the teams to get on to ask TARC questions of the LUNAR members,, to receive TARC announcements from the club, and for the teams to chat among themselves. Go to: http://www.lunar.org/docs/lists/lists.shtml to join the list.

David Raimondi, TARC Launch Coordinator
d.raimondi@sbcglobal.net, 408.997.2571 (h) or 408.742.5173 (w)

 

Central California TARC Team Mentor Volunteers:

A complete list of mentors can be found at the NAR website.

Special TARC Launch Schedule

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