Local Stellar Xplorers teams place second and third in Southeast Region

  • Published
  • By Kim Nelson, Coffee County Stellar Xplorers
  • AEDC/PA
MANCHESTER, Tenn. --  Two of the three Stellar Xplorers teams from Coffee County Central High School recently placed in the top three positions in the Southeast Region.

Stellar Xplorers is an Air Force Association sponsored program designed to inspire and attract high school students to pursue studies and careers in STEM through a challenging space system design competition involving all aspects of system development and operation with a spacecraft and payload focus.

Over 100 teams participated in competitions across the nation this year. The three teams from CCCHS competed throughout the 2018-2019 season, from September 2018 to February 2019, and participated in three Practice Rounds, two Qualifying Rounds and the Prestige Round.
This was the third year in a row that the Arnold Air Force Base Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program and the Tennessee Valley Women in Defense Chapter partnered together to support the Stellar Xplorers Program at Coffee County CCCHS.

For the 2018-2019 school year, the CCCHS Air Force Junior ROTC Commander, Col. Mike Angle, U.S. Air Force retired, former Director of Policy, Plans & Programs, Joint Forces Component Commander SPACE, served as the team coach. This is the third year Lt. Col. Kim M. Nelson, U.S. Air Force retired, has served as the team mentor. Lt Col Nelson is the former Chief of AEDC Space and Missile Testing and is the local TN-Valley Chapter WID STEM director. Past Team Mentor Chad Overcast, former AEDC physicist, also assisted the team with the Systems Tool Kit.

As coach, Angle took a new approach this year and had the CCCHS Stellar Xplorers program be a student-led and student-run activity. The 15 students, led by Tabby Syferd, managed the schedule, team responsibilities, meetings, and competitions. These students did an outstanding job balancing school, activities, and this program. Some of the technical aspects of the STK are beyond the student’s knowledge, so Angle and Nelson will be working this summer to develop basic training courseware that can be used each year to train students on STK and basic orbital mechanics. This will help balance the workload between the student-led and mentor/coach-led sections during the actual competitions.

The AF STEM Program provided the registration fees for this year’s competition, and the Tennessee Valley Chapter of WID provided the high-speed lap-top computers required to run the STK software. If you are interested in helping mentor a team at your school or a CCCHS, please contact the Arnold Air Force Base STEM Director at the Hands-On Science Center in Tullahoma at (931) 455-8387.

Who can participate? Teams can come from any high school (including home schools), JROTC, CAP, School Clubs, Boy/Girl Scouts, Boys & Girls Clubs, or any organized youth organization. Teams consist of an adult team director, usually a teacher, and two to six students. Team mentors with space experience are available in-person or online. Participation is free until after teams have had the opportunity to compete for the first qualifying round. The Program supplies a self-contained academic/education component accessed online as a curriculum supplement, as well as specific training in the use of system simulation software, Systems Tool Kit. The competition leading up to the finals is- accomplished from the team’s home location on any Windows-based personal computer.

Teams will be asked for their solutions to a typical space design problem, such as orbit determination, satellite component selection, and launch vehicle planning, as outlined in a scenario describing the system’s mission and constraints.

Practice Rounds precede two Qualification Rounds with the QR scores determining which teams advance to either the Prestige Round, or the higher scoring Semi-Finals in March. The top teams from the Semi-Finals will receive an all-expense-paid trip the Finals in Colorado in early April.

For further information on the Stellar Xplorers program visit: http://www.stellarxplorers.org.