Even though we launched our bottle rockets a few weeks ago, I thought I would reflect upon team Brazanah's rocket performance.

With prior knowledge in the field of building bottle rockets, team Brazanah was determined to succeed in the bottle rocket competition this year. We mainly focused on constructing a well-made parachute. We knew that especially on a windy day, a parachute can greatly slow down the rocket during its fall. Just as we put parachutes on rockets for the Kerbal Space Program to salvage parts and save Kerbals, we put a parachute on our bottle rocket. As a result, the drag force (F=-bv), resisting the pull of gravity as the rocket plunged downward, was greater for our rocket than for others. Parachutes seem simple, but to have them actually deploy is another story. Luckily, with guidance from another group, we learned the proper parachute folding technique. We also weighted the nose cone to make sure it fell off as the rocket hit its peak and flipped. The rocket's descent definitely was longer than its climb, primarily due to our successful parachute.

We did not have time to add fins to the rocket; however, if we did, the rocket would have been more stable on the way up. This is because the fins would counteract the sideways motion of the rocket as water escapes. Fins are similar to adding a SAS on a Kerbal Space Program rocket . Even without the fins, our rocket seemed to climb pretty straight. All in all, for Physics C team Brazanah finished on top with a time of 5.85 seconds in the air. Go Brazanah!