American Rocketry Challenge (ARC) - 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 ARC teams since 2005, with many in the national fly-off.

For 2026, we plan two teams following the 2026 rules. The rocket must fly to 750ft and return between 36 and 39 seconds. It must carry an egg and altimeter. The booster and cargo unit must come down together under a parachute. Launches are in The Plains VA, Culpeper VA, or Walkersville MD.

In past years, we have had teams in the NASA Student Launch Initiative, the Rockets for Schools, the Battle of the Rockets, and the Friends of Amateur Rocketry programs. The team will consider these and other challenges for 2026.

ARC 2025 Web Pages
not finished yet

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 championship many years and to the World Championship in 2025 and many other years.

We registered two teams for 2024/2025, team 6417, the Blu Cru, and team 24158, the Green Gang, with about 8 members on both team. We will get the 2025/26 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.

FTC 2024/2025 Web Pages
not finished yet

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 late October, we will register team 160 in the 2026 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 2026. We plan to do well in the regional tournament in April 2026, and continue at GCER 2026 in July in Norman, Oklahoma.

Botball 2025 Web Pages
not finished yet

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 10 members, who must complete an on-line training session from the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA). We practice our operations locally. The regional tournament is in late spring on-line. If selected, we will participate in the national competition in August 2026.

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 2025. We plan to have another team compete in 2026 and retain the title.

UAS 2025 Web Pages