Students hold up their rocket in a past TARC competition. Photo: Aerospace Industries Association

[Via Satellite 04-11-2014] The top 100 scoring teams from across the United States in the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) will travel to Great Meadow in The Plains, Va. to compete in TARC’s national finals on May 10. In this year’s challenge, teams must design and build a model rocket that can travel the distance of 825 feet and back within a recorded time of 48 to 50 seconds while carrying two raw eggs that must return undamaged.

The TARC has 5,000 participants annually and is a key competition in bolstering U.S. student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). A 2010 survey of TARC alumni reported that 80 percent of respondents continued on to major in a STEM-related field. Participants will compete for a total of $60,000 in scholarships and prizes.