Virtual Research and Development Competition
Date: February 22, 2025.
The NAR occasionally features a virtual Research and Development competition. Be sure to read carefully Section 62 in the US Model Rocket Sporting Code for information on how to prepare and qualify an R&D report. There are also a few modifications to the Section 62 rules to adapt the event for a virtual setting listed below.
Virtual R&D Competition- Information and Rules Modifications
- You do not need to be an NAR member to enter; however, you must register for the event in order to submit a report and be considered for awards.
- The event is listed in the event calendar as "Manufacturers Forum, Research and Development Presentations." Registration is free and open to the public.
- Individuals and teams of two or more are invited to compete in one of these three divisions:
- Youth (individuals and teams, ages 0-14*),
- Young Adult (individuals and teams, ages 15-22*),
- Adult (individuals and teams age 23 and older*) * Based on age of individual or oldest team member as of Jan 1. Teams may consist of any age individuals.)
- R&D reports must be submitted to the NAR website using the Submission form listed below no later than midnight, Eastern Standard Time, February 7, 2025.
- All R&D reports must comply with the Model Rocket Safety Code (MRSC).
- The individuals and/or teams selected by the judges to compete for the top places will be notified on or before February 14, 2025.
- The selected individuals and/or teams will give a 10-minute on-line summary of their R&D report followed by 5 minutes for questions- first from the judges and then participants. The live oral presentations will take place during the virtual event on February 22, 2025 beginning at 11:00 a.m. Central time.
- Awards will be announced near the end of the event and will be given for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in each of the three divisions (above). Cash prizes may be awarded to one or more outstanding entries at the discretion of the judges. All reports selected for an on-line presentation will be archived and made available at the NAR, members-only, R&D report repository on the NAR web site.
Project Ideas
According to the Sporting Code, an R&D project is supposed to either advance the state of the art of model rocketry, or use model rocketry as a research tool. Follow your curiosity. A good project has an idea that shows creativity and originality, is feasible to execute in a reasonable amount of time, and (sometimes fortuitously) leads to a result that is useful, or advances everyone's understanding.
Is there something that has been mysterious, that you have always wanted to understand? Have you wanted to improve the performance of your rocket? Is there something that has always annoyed you about your rocket (misfires, the way your parachute tangles or won't deploy, red barons, not being able to find it after launch, the difficulties of altitude tracking, lack of guidance, safety concerns, etc.) for which you might have a novel solution? Is there something that you could use model rocketry for (e.g., taking atmospheric science data, taking aerial photos for a particular use, developing a science curriculum to teach some aspect of physics or math or chemistry, etc.)? For examples of what R&D projects have been done in the past, you can search the bibliography that is posted at the bottom of this page.
Start Early!
Don't plan on doing your project a few days before the event! The winning R&D projects in the upper divisions often take months to over a year to complete, with multiple aspects/parts/approaches. Building your test rockets or equipment, testing, allowing time for failures and revising your approach, and getting a statistically significant amount of quantitative data from experiments and flight tests (see below) all take time.
Keep a logbook chronicling your progress, ideas, data, and observations. It will be useful when it comes time to write your report.
The Written Report
Be sure that everything listed in the U.S. Model Rocket Sporting Code rule 63.5 is included in your report. Your entry could be disqualified if it does not contain all of the required elements in some form. Include an introduction about why you chose this project and what was your initial (and sometimes evolving) objective for the project.
A written summary of your report is also required. This is not simply a repeat of the introduction, or an advertisement for the rest of the project-it is a succinct summary of your objective, a brief statement of the means you used to meet it (e.g., calculations, flight tests, engineering tests, or other data gathering), and a statement of the conclusions and significant results (What did you learn? Did you meet the objective?). If a reader had time to read only your summary, what would you want him/her to know about your project?
Keep a bibliography and list the sources that you used for reference. Do go to the library (surprisingly, there is stuff there that isn't on the web!), look at the web, and ask other experienced modelers. But make sure your writing is original-DO NOT cut and paste entire paragraphs from reference sources on the web or from books unless you have a purpose for them in the context of the report. Material taken from a source should appear within quotes in your report, and a reference to the original source should appear in your bibliography. Even if you paraphrase material, or put it in your own words, you need to reference the original source. Also, stick to the point of your project, and do not include extensive irrelevant information or descriptions. You will not earn extra credit for padding out your project with more pages.
Periodically during your preparations, you should try to step back and think carefully about your experimental setup and think about what else could account for or affect your results (was Rocket B heavier than rocket A by a little? Did Rocket B have slightly crooked fins and so not fly as straight or have more drag?). Include these thoughts in your report. Even if you don't know how to correct for such systematic errors, just doing some thoughtful analysis and itemizing other possible causes for the results will earn you the esteem of the judges!
It would also be good after the conclusions in your report to include a retrospective on what you would do differently if you could start over, your thoughts on follow-up work that could be done to improve the project, or other ideas that this project inspired.
Please have several other people read your report before you enter it in the R&D event. Have them make suggestions for improvements. Find out what things they thought were confusing or missing. Also, be careful to eliminate all of the grammar and spelling mistakes (a good proofreader helps here too!).
Results
One thing that the judges are especially looking for is that the contestant is not drawing incorrect or unsupported conclusions from their observations and experimental results.
This can arise for two reasons. First, the contestant may not have enough controls or checks in his/her experimental process. For example, if you are doing a lot of flight tests with several different models, you need to check for and record possible differences between the models. Do they have the same mass, surface finish, fin area, frontal area, etc.? Also, follow procedures that help to 'randomize' the effect of influences that you may not consider or can't control. For example, if you are comparing the performance of A vs. B engines using what you think are two identical models, don't fly all of the A engines in one model, and all of the B engines in the other model; divide the two types of engines evenly between the models. Similarly, if you are comparing two different types of models, don't make all the flights of model #1 in the cool, clam morning, and then make all the flights of model #2 in the hot, windy afternoon; mix the flights together so that external changes affect both groups equally. The second reason people draw unsupported conclusions is that they don't consider whether any differences in their results are statistically significant or not. For any quantitative data it is a must to have some statistical analysis. Most importantly, you need to have enough trials of an experiment to get statistically significant results. One to three trials is much too few to get significant results; ten to twenty would be much better. At a minimum, you should calculate the 'mean' (average) and the 'standard deviation of the mean' or all sets of experimental data you want to compare.
Oral Presentation
In addition to the written report, the contestants that are in line to place must do an oral presentation in front of three R&D judges and a friendly audience of the interested attendees, and answer questions following their talk from the judges and audience. The presentation can significantly affect the judges' opinions, but remember that you need to do well enough to impress the judges on the written report to earn the chance to present the oral in the first place!
Prepare your oral talk well: Have a PowerPoint digital presentation summarizing your report (proofread it!), and use large font sizes for the text so people in the back of the room can see them. Check with the event organizers to ensure that you know whether you are supposed to bring a laptop of your own or just a digital file to load onto their laptop. Have some props as well (samples of your rocket, apparatus, etc.) to show the judges and pass around. Practice in front of your family and friends two or three times before the formal presentation and ask them for their honest constructive criticism regardless of how much it hurts your ego!
The R&D rules state that the oral presentation shall not exceed 15 minutes in length, but constraints of time at the webinar for the final presentations may lead to the judges to request talks with a length of 5 or 10 minutes, so you should be prepared for either length. Contestants that go on past the time limit may be cut off from necessity without finishing. One viewgraph per minute is a good rule of thumb. You could have an additional 5 minutes of material in reserve if it turns out there is time for a longer format. The judges and audience will not interrupt you with questions during your presentation, but there will typically be five minutes of questioning after you have finished your talk. Practice answering questions from your family and friends.
Good luck! We are hoping to see many outstanding R&D projects this year.