Eye on Education: High school students in Upton working on environmentally friendly rocket
UPTON – They are not even in college yet, but a group of engineering students from Nipmuc Regional High School can call themselves rocket scientists.
They are helping bluShift Aerospace in Brunswick, Maine develop a rocket that uses carbon-neutral bio-fuel.
Traditional rocket engines release about 300 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The goal at bluShift is to reduce that to zero.
Last fall the students were invited to BluShift to conduct a series of tests using devices that monitor both vibration and the environment outside the engine.
"These kits will help us see what they can improve upon," explained Senior Derek Cerundolo.
"Once we report to bluShift, they are making tweaks on their engine and will be testing it again," added Nipmuc engineering teacher, James Gordon.
So how did these kids end up working on actual rockets? They were runners up in an engineering contest for World Space Week.
They figured out how to improve solar energy using a marble launcher and sensors similar to those used in the rocket project.
"We determined that to make solar panels on a rotating axis, rotating motor, to make sure it follows the angle of the sun," senior Ronan Joyce said.
That success led them to bluShift. According to Gorman, both projects have given these kids real world experience.
"It's not just looking at it, it's actually building things they can send to space," Gorman said.
The students will also have devices to measure more data on an actual space launch later this year and they will travel to Maryland in April to present t heir results at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.