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Southern Arkansas University’s annual High-Powered Rocket Workshop sent student-built rockets into the sky at the Magnolia Municipal Airport, capping off a four-day program in rocket design, engineering and flight.<\/p>\nSouthern Arkansas University’s annual High-Powered Rocket Workshop sent student-built rockets into the sky at the Magnolia Municipal Airport, capping off a four-day program in rocket design, engineering and flight.<\/p>\n
Held in June, the workshop welcomed approximately 30 high school students, undergraduate students, teachers, and college faculty members from across Arkansas. During the four-day program, participants lived on SAU\u2019s campus, worked in collaborative teams, and gained practical experience in rocket design, manufacturing, instrumentation, flight preparation, and recovery.<\/p>\n
The workshop was supported by the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium through a $30,000 grant secured by Dr. Abdel Bachri, dean of SAU\u2019s College of Science and Engineering. Funding from ASGC and NASA allowed participants to attend the program and use specialized equipment, materials, software, and facilities throughout the week.<\/p>\n
Rather than observing demonstrations, participants completed nearly every stage of the rocketry process themselves. Teams began by developing and testing digital models using OpenRocket simulation software. They then moved into SAU\u2019s physics laboratories and engineering facilities to manufacture components, prepare fins, create customized parts, assemble airframes, and install recovery and flight-monitoring systems.<\/p>\n
The rockets incorporated equipment such as onboard cameras, flight recorders, recovery controllers, and barometric dual-deployment altimeters. Participants also learned how rocket weight, stability, propulsion, weather, parachute deployment, and launch conditions affect flight performance.<\/p>\n
Safety instruction remained central throughout the program. Participants learned proper fabrication and launch procedures, inspected their rockets before flight, and gained experience that could contribute toward Level 1 high-powered rocketry certification.<\/p>\n
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This year’s workshop moved its launch site to the Magnolia Municipal Airport, a change that gave teams open, unobstructed terrain to track their rockets in flight and made recovery easier. At tree-lined launch sites, wind can carry descending rockets and parachutes into branches, complicating retrieval and risking damage; the airport’s open ground avoided that problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most meaningful part of this workshop is seeing participants take an idea and turn it into something that actually flies,\u201d Bachri said. \u201cThey experience the excitement of a launch, but they also understand the planning, teamwork, problem-solving, precision, and responsibility required to make that launch successful. We are grateful to the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium, NASA, and the Magnolia Municipal Airport for helping us provide this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Launch day gave participants an opportunity to evaluate how their designs performed under real flight conditions. Teams watched as their rockets lifted from the launch pads, reached altitude, deployed their recovery systems, and returned to the ground. After recovery, participants were able to examine their rockets, review flight results, and take their completed projects home.<\/p>\n
The workshop was supported by Royce Frankum of Frankum Performance Rocketry Products, SAU engineering machinist Jeff Sumner and Dr. David Thomas of Lyon College. Their technical knowledge and guidance helped participants safely manufacture, assemble, inspect, and prepare their rockets for launch.<\/p>\n
SAU also extends its appreciation to the Magnolia Municipal Airport for hosting the final day of the workshop and providing a location well![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/08\/2BB_11C_5881567_1502074979_3.jpg\")
suited for high-powered rocket launches and recovery.<\/p>\n
The High-Powered Rocket Workshop is one of several hands-on STEM outreach programs offered through SAU’s College of Science and Engineering, introducing students and educators to aerospace-related fields while building technical skills, teamwork and interest in science and engineering careers.<\/p>\n
About the SAU College of Science and Engineering:<\/strong><\/p>\n The Southern Arkansas University College of Science and Engineering provides educational, research, and outreach opportunities in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, agriculture, nursing, and related disciplines. Through laboratory instruction, industry engagement, undergraduate research, and experiential learning, the college prepares students to contribute to Arkansas\u2019s workforce and to pursue advanced study and professional careers.<\/p>\n Southern Arkansas University provides students with the complete college experience in a caring environment of service, innovation, and community. With more than 100 degrees across four distinct colleges and the School of Graduate Studies, SAU initiates new degree programs to meet the needs of today\u2019s career and professional trends. To learn more about SAU, visit\u00a0www.saumag.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n About the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium: <\/strong><\/p>\n The Arkansas Space Grant Consortium is part of NASA\u2019s National Space Grant College and Fellowship Project. ASGC supports aerospace education, research, workforce development, and public outreach through partnerships with colleges, universities, schools, industries, and government organizations throughout Arkansas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Southern Arkansas University’s annual High-Powered Rocket Workshop sent student-built rockets into the sky at the Magnolia Municipal Airport, capping off a four-day program in rocket design, engineering and flight. Held in June, the workshop welcomed approximately 30 high school students, undergraduate students, teachers, and college faculty members from across Arkansas. During the four-day program, participants… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":12103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[271,272,308,16357,7753],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-academics","category-archives","category-college-of-science-and-technology","category-engineering-engineering-physics","category-homepage","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12100"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12108,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12100\/revisions\/12108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}