NewportRocketry

01 On the pad

Rocketry is engineering you can watch fly.

Newport Rocketry designs, builds and launches competition rockets. Every flight starts the same way: a rocket on the rail, a crew behind the safety line, and a countdown.

• No experience needed
• Tue & Fri after school

02 Ignition

Newton’s third law does the heavy lifting.

The motor burns its propellant and blasts hot gas down, and the gas shoves the rocket up. Motors are rated by letter from A to G and beyond, and each letter packs up to twice the total impulse of the one before.

• Thrust > weight
• Action = reaction

03 Powered ascent

Fins keep it flying straight.

A stable rocket keeps its center of pressure behind its center of gravity, so the fins steer it back into the airflow like a weathervane. We check that margin in simulation before anything goes near the pad.

• CP behind CG
• 1–2 calibers of margin

04 Burnout & coast

The motor is done. Physics isn’t.

After about a second and a half the motor burns out and the rocket coasts, trading speed for height while gravity and drag slow it down. We design every rocket in CAD and predict its flight in OpenRocket before we build it.

• CAD
• OpenRocket
• Test flights

05 Apogee

Hit 800 feet. Exactly.

Carry two raw eggs to exactly 800 feet, then land safely with both eggs uncracked after 37–40 seconds. Each foot off target adds 1 point. Each second outside the time window adds 4. Lower scores are better.

• 800 ft target
• 37–40 s flight
• 2 intact eggs

06 Recovery

What goes up has to come down gently.

At the top, a small ejection charge pops the nose off and the parachute opens. A slow, steady descent keeps the eggs intact and the flight time inside the window. We follow the NAR Model Rocket Safety Code on every launch.

• Parachute
• Payload intact
• Safety first

07 Touchdown

Eggs intact. Your turn.

Weekends at 60 Acres Park, afternoons in Room 3104. No experience required: we teach you everything, from motor classes to packing a parachute.