Rocket Science Workshop
Album

In the Rocket Science Workshop we built and launched water rockets. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

In the beginning of the workshop we drew inspiration from Saturn V and the first astronauts and cosmonauts. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

One and half litres carbonated water bottles were used as a basis for the water rockets. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

The body of the rocket was a lightweight tube made of paper or thin cardboard. This ensured good aerodynamics and crumpling in case of unintended collisions. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

The nose of the rocket was made of soft, rubbery material in order to minimise possible unintended damage during launching and landing. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

Each rockets got its own styling and name. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

Juri got to also fly again. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

Contemplating on the fin design, one of the most challenging tasks in the workshop. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

Testing aerodynamics. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

Attaching the fins needed careful consideration, as no holes could be punctured to the to-be pressurised bottle. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

Sturdy fins of the 'Saturn XXL' rocket, which was about two meters tall. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

Once the rockets were ready, we went to the nearby meadow to prepare for launching. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

The Launch Team set their equipment at some distance from the control camp, where the rest of the teams would observe the rockets and perform their duties. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

The Launch Team with their bicycle pump, fuel supply (H2O), start log, walkie talkie and protective goggles. About 3 bars pressure and a Gardena nozzle were used for launching the rockets. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

The makers of 'White Dot' waiting for their rocket to be launched. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

Some teams had also dressed up properly according to the theme. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

The Video Team had three cameras to care about in order to provide multi-perspective recordings of the rocket flights. Here is the regular camera that was filming the flight from a distance. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

The second camera was a GoPro placed next to the rocket. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

The third camera was a small spy cam with an additional wide-angle lens. It was attached to the rocket itself. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

Each start was labelled so that the video recordings and other measurements could be matched. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

Rocket altitude at its highest point was measured in two ways. The first team measured the altitude based on geometry. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

The observer's distance from the rocket launcher and the angle between the launcher and the highest point of the flight served as a basis for the altitude estimates. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

The second altitude tracking team used a barometric altimeter, which was connected to an Arduino microcontroller board. This device was attached either to the side of the rocket or in a separate compartment at the rocket's nose. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

A program written in Processing was used to read the barometric altitude recordings as well as the maximum speed of the rocket. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

The measurement experts gathered their data together at the control camp in order to see how accurate and comparable the altitude measurements were. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

After launching all the 12 rockets we had a credible data set to explore. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä

The rockets suffered some damage while landing but thankfully the parts are easily replaceable. / CC BY Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä