More than 200 high school students set off their self-designed mini rockets at the 7th annual National Experimental Rocket Design Contest yesterday.
The square in front of Taipei City Hall was used as the launch pad for the event.
During the contest -- jointly organized by National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) and the Taipei City Government -- 162 rockets were launched by students from around the nation.
"Aeronautics development for the past hundred years has depended upon many fanatics' determination in research of the field," said Ching Hung-hsin (景鴻鑫), a professor at NCKU's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. "The aim of this contest is to trigger and cultivate youngsters' interest in aeronautics by having them design and make their own mini rockets."
Ching, who has been devoted to organizing various activities related to rocket design, initiated the contest seven years ago.
The contest began at 10:30am and ended at 3pm. The rockets were judged based on how high they could reach and how long they could remain in the air.
Among the mini rockets launched yesterday, the highest altitude to be reached was 182m and the longest duration in the air recorded was 22 seconds.
Hsieh Han-jen (
RSS