Five universities across America have been selected as finalists in the Bayar Alka-Rocket Challenge, a competition to design an Alka-Rocket and launch it into space. One of the finalists, University of Minnesota, won last year’s competition after the students launched a rocket 430 feet into space and broke the Guinness World Record.
Bayar, a products and services company, originally started the challenge to encourage people to pursue careers in science and engineering, seeing these fields as the foundations of the modern world. The Alka-Rocket is a model rocket that is often used as a visual in American classrooms to show students the rules of chemistry and physics and is now being used to get students more engaged in innovation and science in a fun way.
“The ingenuity and effort of the teams were clearly present in both their design strategies and launch operations,” said Dr. Mae Jemison, the first woman of color in space and one of the judges for the competition. John Hochheimer, President of the National Association of Rocketry, and Cliff Ransom, Executive Editor of Scientific American Custom Media will judge alongside Dr. Jemison.
The other finalists are Bringham Young University, California Polytechnic State University, Texas Tech University, and the University of Georgia. The students will compete on December 12th at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for a chance to win $30,000 and the title of Highest launch of an Alka-Rocket in the Guinness World Record.
