Hey everyone! Instead of the usual subteam updates, this week will consist of a recap of a rocket launch event several of our members attended. Taking place over the weekend of November 12-14, ROCstock is a rocket launch event hosted by the Rocket Organization of California (ROC) at the Lucerne Dry Lake. It was an exciting day watching a bunch of unique rockets being launched, as well as seeing our own members launch their own rockets for their certifications!
Read more to see some pictures and videos taken there.
Our ROCstock started Friday night with many of our members heading over to Lucerne to camp overnight for the launches on Saturday morning. People huddled around campfires to keep warm in the cool desert night. Being out near the desert, away from the light pollution of the city, gave people the opportunity to see a night sky filled with stars.
The next day our members woke up early to see the sun rise over the Lucerne dry lake before the long morning of launches began. Many others were also there to launch, so as our five launching members (Alexander Hein, LeAnn Liu, Owen Osborne, Zackey Sahebzada, and Owen Trimble) waited for their turns, they and the rest of the team looked to the sky to see how high the rockets would go.
As the time neared to launch, our members began to place their rockets onto the launch platform. It was an exciting yet also tense moment as there is always that possibility of the launch failing. But one by one as their rockets launched, success after success. In a quick explosion, the rockets take flight into the clear sky. As they reach their apogee, a small pop happens, and then the rockets descend as their parachutes come out. When the range is cleared and safe, the launchers head out to check and recover their rockets.
This is just the first of many launch events that we plan to attend this academic year. Not only was it a fun experience for our members, ROCstock gave us the opportunity to test avionics equipment and to get an idea of the planning required for our spring quarter launch of our liquid rocket!
Here’s a short video of the event made by Ryan Chu!