A team of middle schoolers from Bellevue, Wash., nicknamed the Space Potatoes, captured the top prize at the 2016 Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) National Finals.
The five-student team from Odle Middle School outscored 100 of the best rocketry teams in the country in the finals. Nearly 5,000 students on 789 teams participated in the overall competition from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Space Potatoes team members are Mikaela Ikeda, 12, Larry Jing, 13, Karl Deerkop, 14, Srivatshan (Sri) Sakthinarayanan, 13, and Stephanie Han , 13. According to a news realease, they were awarded more than $20,000 in scholarships and funds for their school.
Sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry, the competition required students to build a rocket that flies to exactly 850 feet and safely returns a payload of two raw eggs within 44-46 seconds. At the National Finals, students were required to adjust their rockets “on the fly” to hit new flight/duration parameters for a second round of launches.
Odle Middle School of @TheBSD405 wins National Championship in world's largest rocket contest! #TARC2016 https://t.co/Ai1lBKaBoB
— TARC (@RocketContest) May 16, 2016
Check out our National Finals photos on Flickr! Still more new uploads to come! #TARC2016 https://t.co/fEQZhs7n2M pic.twitter.com/qD0Nn7Ruux
— TARC (@RocketContest) May 16, 2016
"I guarantee you the first woman or man to walk on Mars is sitting here today" -Raytheon's Mark Matthews #TARC2016 pic.twitter.com/QsSRdlydtz
— Raytheon (@Raytheon) May 14, 2016
The Space Potatoes, shooting for a perfect score of zero, managed a combined score of 13.64, which eclipsed the mark set by the 2015 world champion team. In July, the Bellevue team will travel to London to represent the United States at the International Rocketry Challenge.
“These students demonstrated incredible ingenuity and a passion for aerospace and STEM education,” said David F. Melcher, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, in a news release. “We are proud of their accomplishments and wish them luck on their quest for the international title!”
Check out this promotional video for the contest:
And visit the TARC Instagram and Flickr feeds to see more images:
