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Laguna Blanca's Conley Ball and Nic Richmond Named 2021 Kerbal Rocketry Challenge Winners
Congratulations to recent Laguna graduates Conley Ball ‘21 and Nic Richmond ‘21, who won the 2021 Kerbal Rocketry Challenge for Laguna Blanca! Conley and Nic were both instrumental members of the TARC (Team America Rocketry Challenge) Club while at Laguna.
Conley and Nic beat out nearly 250 teams that competed in the first-ever Kerbal Rocketry Challenge after spending three weeks developing their rocket, which is entirely virtual. “Their high-tech Mun base showed the very best of aerospace and innovation,” says the competition judges. The competition took place online in the Kerbal Space Program.
Conley and Nic used a single launch vehicle to launch a massive In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) operation, topped with habitation modules for kerbalnauts. Their base is a tower-like structure that has over 100 ISRU converters at its base. Because of all of their ISRU converters, the team filled up their fuel tank in a mere 23 seconds.
“The most challenging part of this kind of project is taking a design, and trying to make it work, but just barely,” says Conley. “It’s easy to make a design that will get the job done, but the issue is optimization. Sometimes this means trying and failing dozens of times until you make it work.”
Conley and Nic beat out nearly 250 teams that competed in the first-ever Kerbal Rocketry Challenge after spending three weeks developing their rocket, which is entirely virtual. “Their high-tech Mun base showed the very best of aerospace and innovation,” says the competition judges. The competition took place online in the Kerbal Space Program.
Conley and Nic used a single launch vehicle to launch a massive In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) operation, topped with habitation modules for kerbalnauts. Their base is a tower-like structure that has over 100 ISRU converters at its base. Because of all of their ISRU converters, the team filled up their fuel tank in a mere 23 seconds.
“The most challenging part of this kind of project is taking a design, and trying to make it work, but just barely,” says Conley. “It’s easy to make a design that will get the job done, but the issue is optimization. Sometimes this means trying and failing dozens of times until you make it work.”
As for next year, Conley has some advice for future participants. “Don’t be afraid to try the silliest option,” he says. “This year we won by being the only team to throw expectations and reasonability out the window in favor of optimization and quantity.”
Way to go, Conley and Nic!
Way to go, Conley and Nic!
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Laguna Blanca is Santa Barbara’s premier private, co-educational, college preparatory day school for students in Early Kindergarten through Grade 12.