ECOF events - Kelly's Engineering Challenge 2013

[Sather]

Ok, folks. You have waited and waited patiently for it, and today is the day we reveal...

The official rules for the 2013 ECOF Kelly's Engineering Challenge. This will be the 5th year she has hosted this event. There have been a lot of great ideas built and flown in the past - we have some very creative people in our group, and we are looking forward to seeing what gets dreamt up for this one.

NO, NO, Not the secret payload!
:D

Yup... Welcome to the Kelly Engineering Challenge for WOOSH ECOF 2013 ----- "Secret Payload" -----

This event was kicked off (a bit prematurely, I might add) by Elon Musk, who launched the first 'secret payload' - a wheel of cheese - that rode into space aboard the company's private Dragon spacecraft during a Dec. 8. 2010 test flight. Photos attached. Elon was eventually disqualified. While he did not reveal the payload prior to his practice flight, he did not declare the flight as a qualifying flight, and therefore would be required to fly it again at ECOF in 2013, under rules 1 and 12. The preliminary rules for 2013 are...

1. The rocket must fly at ECOF in 2013, under thrust of allowed propellant (BP, APCP, or hybrid).
2. Any motor class is allowed. The rocketeer must be certified to the level of combined motors flown. NAR safety code applies.
3. The rocket must fly with a payload. The nature of the payload must be kept secret until after the flight.
4. The payload may be contained within the payload bay through recovery, or may be ejected to recover under a separate parachute.
5. The payload will be revealed to the judge following the flight. Do not bribe the judge.
6. Points will be awarded based on the Uniqueness / Novelty of the Payload (20 points), as well as the success of the Payload Protection System (20 points).
7. Additional points are awarded for the rocket itself, under Quality of Build (20 points), Quality of Flight (20 points), and Quality of Recovery (20 points).
8. Do not launch multiple or crushable items. (i.e. Cheerios, glass, etc...)
9. Do not launch something so small you will not find it. (i.e. small diamonds.) Large diamonds would be an exception to both rule 9 and Rule 5.
10. If you lose, or completely demolish your payload, you forfeit all Payload Protection System points. Conversely, even if the rocket suffers a spectacular failure (cato, etc.), full points for the Payload Protection System will be awarded if the payload suffers no damage. (launch escape tower, anyone?)
11. Innovations in designs are always encouraged. Family friendly theme mandatory. Remember the judge is an eleven year old girl.
12. Only one qualifying flight is allowed per rocket. (While practice flights are allowed, the qualifying flight must be identified as such in advance.)
13. There is no restriction on number of rockets per participant. If a participant makes two or more qualifying rockets, he may register and fly each of them as an individual entry. However, individual participants may not "sweep" the awards. While it is possible that two or more entries from one flyer could score high enough to each qualify for an award, there will be only one award given to any individual participant. (i.e. only the highest scoring rocket from each participant will count for First, Second, and/or Third place awards.)
14. Points are cumulative, with a maximum possible total of 100 points. Scoring as follows...

20 points for Quality of Build (finish, smooth transitions, fin fillets, motor retention, overall structural integrity)
20 points for Quality of Flight (stability, altitude, duration)
20 points for Quality of Recovery (recovery device deployment, lack of damage to rocket)
20 points for Uniqueness / Novelty of the Payload (wide open category)
20 points for success of Payload Protection System (survival of and lack of damage to the payload)

15. Rewards... In addition to eternal bragging rights, the winner, 2nd and 3rd place, and Honorable Mention each get an engraved trophy. Honorable Mention(s) will be awarded for entries that truly merit additional recognition. All pre-registered participants get a nifty certificate suitable for framing. And the winner will receive a $50 gift certificate to Wildman Rocket Supply.

Challenge dates - Saturday, 27 July 2013 and Sunday, 28 July 2013
9:00 AM - tent and table setup
10:00 AM - group photo (bring your rocket)
10:00 AM to 11:00 AM - preflight judging (rockets together) Payload should still be concealed at this point.
Quality of Build - max of 20 points
11:00 AM to 3:00 PM - qualifying flights (thru Sunday if weather forecast acceptable)
Inflight points - Quality of Flight - max of 20 points
Postflight points - Quality of Recovery - max of 20 points
Uniqueness / Novelty of the Payload - max of 20 points
Payload Protection System - max of 20 points
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM - point tabulation
4:00 PM - awards ceremony

Kelly Engineering Challenge Hall of Fame...

2012 - Upscale (Downscale) Anything Can Fly
1st place - Jay R. - Computer Cooling Fan on G64-W
2nd place - Sather R. - Swirly (ice cream cone) on J430-WT
3rd place - Walt E. - Match Stick on D12-5
Honorable Mention - Girl Scout Troop 1034 - Super Crayon on G54-R
2011 - Legged Landers
1st place - Sather R. - "12" Modular Booster with Vanessa Doofenshmirtz Legged Lander" (Phineas and Ferb characters in lander capsule) - L3150 Vmax.
2nd place - Ben W. and Tom K. (Team entry) - " Gladiator 1 and 2" (2 stage) - G76 to F52, timer for second stage ignition
3rd place - Joe K. and Walt E. (Team entry) - "Mars Lander" (2 stage) - D12-0 to C6-5
Honorable Mention - tie
- Jay R. - "Pad Abort Lander" - H170 - Perfect scores in Innovation in Design (20), Quality of Build (20), and Quality of Flight (20)
- Bill R. - "Miranda Mashup" - H120 - Perfect scores in Innovation in Design (20), Quality of Flight (20), and Quality of Recovery (20)
2010 - Strap-on Boosters
1st place - Jay R - "Delta 304 Gravity Probe" - I236 in core (Cesaroni Pro 38-3G)), with 6 x D12, 3 x E9 (9 boosters)
2nd place - Marc S - "Ultimate Ninja" - 6 x C6, 2 x A10, staged to D12
3rd place - Walt E - "Devil Dog" - H175 (Cesaroni Pro 29-4G) in core, 2 x F20-4 in boosters
Honorable Mention - Chad R - "Tres Daddy" - I154-J in core, 2 x F-39T in boosters
2009 - Crayons
1st place - Scott G - yellow crayon, CrayMarc missile on AeroTech J500-G (6 grain 38mm = 723.0 Ns) + 2 x airstarted AeroTech F52-T (each 73.0 Ns) = combined 869.0 Ns
2nd place - Jay R - red crayon, with 3 strap-on crayon boosters that deployed after burnout and had individual recovery systems. Cesaroni G69 Skidmark (1 grain 38mm = 121.1 Ns) + 6 x Estes D12-3 (each 16.8 Ns) = combined 221.9 Ns
3rd place - Marc S - yellow FAO Schwartz crayon on AeroTech I218-Redline (3 grain 38mm = 330.0 Ns)
Honorable Mention - Tim L - green crayon. Cesaroni K675 Skidmark (6 grain 54mm = 2009.6 Ns)

Cheers, Sather

[Rex R]

Think you mean 12:00 pm *(noon) as opposed to 12:00 am* (midnight) :).
*post meridian, ante meridian
rex

[Sather]

Think you mean 12:00 pm *(noon) as opposed to 12:00 am* (midnight) :).
*post meridian, ante meridian
rex

Oooooooops, good catch. Corrected in OP. Thank you, Rex.

[Doug Sams]

Think you mean 12:00 pm *(noon) as opposed to 12:00 am* (midnight) :).
*post meridian, ante meridian
rexI tend to agree that noon is 12PM and midnight is 12AM, but I've seen arguments that 12:00:00 is neither AM nor PM. It was suggested that 12 should always be followed with noon or midnight to resolve any ambiguity (rather than using AM or PM). That struck me as the most effective way of communicating it. FWIW. YMMW.

BTW, the argument goes something like this: at midnight (or noon), the time is exactly at the top (or bottom) and hence is neither before nor after - ie, is neither post nor ante.

Doug

.

[Sather]

I tend to agree that noon is 12PM and midnight is 12AM, but I've seen arguments that 12:00:00 is neither AM nor PM. It was suggested that 12 should always be followed with noon or midnight to resolve any ambiguity (rather than using AM or PM). That struck me as the most effective way of communicating it. FWIW. YMMW.

BTW, the argument goes something like this: at midnight (or noon), the time is exactly at the top (or bottom) and hence is neither before nor after - ie, is neither post nor ante.

Doug

.

Thanks for the info, Doug. I changed it to 11:00 AM anyway, to give more time for the flying portion.

(On a side note, my pet peeve is when ATC gives you a heading of 360°. The compass in every aircraft I have ever flown goes from 0° (north), clockwise to 359°. There is no 360°.)

[pantherjon]

Thanks for the info, Doug. I changed it to 11:00 AM anyway, to give more time for the flying portion.

(On a side note, my pet peeve is when ATC gives you a heading of 360°. The compass in every aircraft I have ever flown goes from 0° (north), clockwise to 359°. There is no 360°.)

Would be kind of funny to hear them say:

Cleared to land on runway 0 (instead of 3 6) :chuckle:

[Sather]

Roughly 6 weeks to go. Putting the finishing touches on my capsule. Remember to let me know who's flying (in advance if possible) so we can have certificates made. Every entry gets one, suitable for framing. And, as in previous years, the winner gets a gift certificate to Wildman's.

[Sather]

A little over a month to go... get those payload bays ready. New for this year, we have added a few more awards to the event. Ribbons will be awarded for 4th thru 10th place. As in prior years, trophies are given for 1st thru 3rd place and for honorable mention(s), the winner gets a $50 gift certificate to Wildman's, and ALL entrants who let me know in advance get a certificate of participation. To comply with rule 13, one can have an unlimited number of entries but still cannot "sweep" the awards... only his highest scoring entry will count. The exception to this is for the honorable mention - i.e. if you scored 7th place in points but presented a truly remarkable design, you could get both the 7th place ribbon AND the Honorable Mention trophy.

[Sather]

Certificates for participation are complete. Kelly designed them herself. We'll have them printed up to hand out at the event. PM me with how you want your name spelled if you want one.

She is looking forward to seeing all your confidential entries :) .

[Ltvscout]

Certificates for participation are complete. Kelly designed them herself. We'll have them printed up to hand out at the event. PM me with how you want your name spelled if you want one.

She is looking forward to seeing all your confidential entries :) .
Sather,

FYI, Tricia tried to send this to the list but it failed since she's not on the list. Tell her to subscribe and she can re-send it.

Scott

[Rex R]

got my payload selected, reload purchased, and the rocket has had a spot of maintenance performed so it should be flight ready. am shooting for either honourable mention or also flown :).
rex