Argonia Cup 2022
April 12, 2022
This past weekend was the 5th installment of the annual Argonia Cup. It was my 2nd year, no longer a participant, but rather volunteer and safety monitor instead. There were more teams registered this year than ever with 20, most of whom attended the event. The objective was as in previous years to take a golf ball payload to over 8000ft of altitude and recover it as close to the launch site as possible. The first years drones and controlled recovery devices were attempted, but dual-deply recovery under parachute was the winning method. Last year 2 teams got very close with quadcopters and gliders falling just short. This year, a couple teams nailed it.
I served as a safety monitor for one university, but after one attempt that didn’t reach altitude, they packed up and returned home, so I was free to observe the rest of the weekend. Saturday was brutally windy and no teams appeared to have any success with their recovery devices, autonomous or manually controlled.
Sunday however, the winds were lighter and SWOSU and Missour S&T had flawless flights with the rocket recovering under parachute and their quadcopters slowly drifting back to the range and dropping safety just inches short of the target “X.” That was a sight to see. Other team’s drones didn’t quite work and were lost, but the success this year was far higher than any previous attempts. My own OSU snapped their 4-year win streak, coming in 3rd, for which I’m honestly happy with, if for no other reason than to prove the competition isn’t rigged.
There were other flights throughout the weekend also with numerous certification flights, test flights for the Spaceport America Cup, and other flyers enjoying the spring launch weekend.
I’m interested as to whether the event objectives/rules will remain the same next year, or if there will be other challenges too. Thank you to the sponsors including Chris’ Rocket Supplies, Wildman Rocketry, Altus Metrum, Mile High Rocketry, Honeywell, LOC Precision, and others for their sponsorship and prize donations. Finally, thank you also to the fellow Kloudbusters and Tripoli for their efforts in making this one of the premier collegiate rocketry competitions.