Competition Water Rocket Design Tutorial

We were recently asked to help a High School student team in their effort to design a winning water rocket for a distance competition. As holders of the WRA2 Water Rocket World Record for Altitude for over 10 consecutive years, this seemed like a great change of pace, and an opportunity to teach a new generation of STEM students our approach to designing a competition rocket.

In this introductory episode, we explain the rules of the distance competition, and how they relate to a typical Water Rocket contest. Then we break down the individual rules, and explain how we will work within those guidelines. Finally, we explain our competition rocket's target design criteria in order to complete the design for the optimal competition rocket.

While targeted at a distance contest, much of these techniques will also apply to an altitude competition as well. The design process we explain should also be of use to those participating in a flight duration contest.

Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions in the comments below.