The Sounding Rockets Program Office (SRPO) and the Wallops Education Office host an annual workshop for approximately 20 educators. Three workshops have been held, starting in 2011. The workshop offers a week of hands-on rocketry activities for High School educators and includes an opportunity to see a sounding rocket launch from Wallops Island.

The first day of the workshop starts with introductions and an overview of NASA's Sounding Rockets Program. Parcipants also complete construction of an E powered model rocket on Monday. The second day is focused on the assembly of a payload for the model rockets. The past two years the payload has been Arduino Uno based with three sensors; pressure transducer, accelerometer and a thermistor.

Wednesday is focused on interactive lectures on rocket physics conducted by Phil Eberspeaker, Chief Sounding Rockets Program Office. The lectures include demonstrations using a CO2 powered Rocket Cars, moment of inertia bars, and other easily obtainable materials. The center of gravity of the model rocket is measured and a stability swing tests are performed. Additionally participants measure the pitch moment of inertia on their models using a bifilar pendulum setup. OpenRocket, a rocket flight simulation software is used to predict flight performance.

On Thursday, day four of the workshop, participants attend a sounding rocket launch on Wallops Island. The payload on the sounding rocket includes student experiments from Universities and Colleges. The model rocket launches are conducted on Thursday afternoon on the Wallops airfield. The last day of the workshop includes various presentations about NASA resources for educators and tours of Wallops Flight Facility.

Download the WRATS 2013 workshop schedule of activites to see a list of presentations and activities. The schedule is provided as an example only and changes may be made for future workshops.

WRATS 2013 schedule download (word document).

Contact Linda Sherman by email to get information on the application process. Applications are not accepted until the spring.