What IS SARTEC?
SARTEC (Student Advanced Rocketry Testing And Evaluation Center) is a nonprofit organization chartered to support student rocketry research. We help numerous student rocketry groups in high schools, colleges, and universities by providing materials, mentoring, and facilities for testing advanced solid and liquid fuel rockets. We maintain a close working relationship with the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) and the Reaction Research Society (RRS) launch sites at the Koehn Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert.
Testing
Our facility at Flabob Airport near Riverside, California allows students to perform pressure tests in a protected observation bunker. There is also a launch rail which is identical to the ones at the Mojave launch sites so that students can practice mounting their rockets and ensure proper alignment and fit of the launch lugs. The ability to perform these and other tests locally saves considerable time and expense and helps to ensure that all systems are ready to go before making the long trip out to the Mojave.
Manufacturing
SARTEC also manufactures components and entire rockets that are donated or loaned to various student rocketry organizations. Many of these components would otherwise be expensive or hard to obtain. Our SR-1 solid fuel rocket is a completely assembled advanced solid fuel rocket with a pyro-mechanical dual deployment recovery system. This rocket (with an accompanying lab curriculum) is provided on loan to educational institutions so that their rocketry students can learn about the systems and safety protocols for launching a high-powered rocket. Once the lab exercises are completed, students are allowed to bring the rocket to the Friends of Amateur Rocket site to make several supervised launches.
Education
SARTEC offers regular classes for high school and college students in our lab facility at Flabob Airport. The SR-1 class meets once per week and lasts for ten weeks. Students are assigned a specialty such as safety inspector, fuel loading and launch prep, avionics, and parachute recovery system. The class culminates in a trip to the Friends of Amateur Rocketry site at the Koehn Dry Lake where a team of engineers oversees the fuel loading and launch of the rocket. Graduates of the introductory class can then participate in the advanced liquid fuel rocket class, which utilizes the LR-1 Lox-Alcohol bi-propellent rocket. Students learn about hydrostatic testing, tank pressurization, fuel loading and LOX safety procedures, and how to utilize checklists. As in the SR-1 class, each student is assigned a specialty and works as part of a team. The class culminates with a launch of the LR-1 rocket at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry site.