Explorer Post 1010 has four engineering projects.
Members may commit to be on one or more projects, but everyone must be on at least one project.
Each project has about 8 to 12 members. The projects run year-round, but the serious time commitments (meetings three times a week)
are around the tournaments, flights, and conferences.
We have plenty of build material, and expect each team to build several competition models
to meet the goals of the challenge.
Project Archives
- We have a long list of projects for the past 23 years.
The American
Rocketry Challenge (TARC)
- requires students to build and fly a mid-size rocket to a specific altitude and land in a specific time.
The program starts in September and runs to qualification flights by April.
The national fly-off is in May. We have had TARC teams since 2005, with many in the national fly-off.
In 2023, one of our teams came in 19th nationally out of 798 teams.
For the 2024 challenge, we plan two teams. Here are the
rules
for 2024. The rocket must fly to 820 feet and return between 43 and 46 seconds.
It must carry one large egg, with an approved altimeter. The booster and
the cargo units must come down together under a parachute. Launches are in
The Plains VA or Walkersville MD.
We also plan a team in the
NASA Student Launch Initiative.
This
program requires the students to fly a high-power rocket with a
special payload.
Flights begin in December and go through April. Some flights will take place at Culpeper VA.
These launches overlap with the TARC launches. It is a big commitment.
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TARC 2023
Web Pages
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FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC)
- requires the students to build, program, test and document a robot to complete scoring challenges.
They use robotics kits from commercial sites augmented with basic robot building material.
Competition is done in alliance with another team. Operation of the
robot is initially autonomous and then remotely controlled. Post 1010
has had teams in FTC since 2011. We have done well in the past and made
it to the regional finals many years and to the Worlds Championship in 2022
and 2023.
We have registered a team this year, team 6417, the Blu Cru, with about
10 members.
We will get the game description in September.
Once we start, we will meet two or three times a week until the qualifying tournaments are completed in February.
We plan to be invited to the regional Chesapeake finals, and perhaps go on to the World's Championship.
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FTC
2022/2023 Web Pages
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Botball Educational Robotics
- requires the students to build, program, test and document two robots to autonomously complete scoring challenges.
The robots are built out of kits provided by KISS Institute for Practical Robotics (KIPR).
A regional kick-off workshop is held in January.
The team has a limited number of weeks to prepare for a regional tournament and document their progress.
Post 1010 has had a team in the regional program since 2001. We won many awards.
In July, KIPR holds the Global Conference on Educational Robotics (GCER), an international conference/tournament.
Post 1010 has sent a team every year since 2002.
In September, we will register team 160 in the 2024 program, with up to 10 members.
There will be a fall practice program which will culminate in an on-line
tournament in December. New rules will be released in January 2024.
We plan to do well in the regional tournament in April 2024, and continue
at GCER 2024 in July in North Carolina.
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Botball 2023 Web Pages
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UAS4STEM (Uncrewed Aircraft Systems)
- requires the students to build and fly a mid-size quad-copter through a competition course in a limited time.
A team is limited to 8 members, who must complete an on-line training session from the
Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA).
We practice our operations at the Red Gate Park.
The regional tournament is in late spring at Hollywood MD or on-line.
If selected, we will participate in the national competition in August.
We have had a team in the program since 2016. We have done very well in
the regional competitions. The national competition is held at
AirVenture held in Oshkosh WI. We won the national competition in 2021,
came in 3rd in 2022, and 2nd in 2023.
We plan to have another team compete in 2024 and reclaim the title.
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UAS 2023 Web Pages
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