The week-long Summer Science Camp hosted by leaders at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, near Kekaha, concluded with a blast Friday, as nearly 40 students from Waimea Boys & Girls Club and PMRF Youth Center
The week-long Summer Science Camp hosted by leaders at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, near Kekaha, concluded with a blast Friday, as nearly 40 students from Waimea Boys & Girls Club and PMRF Youth Center fired the model rockets they built under the watchful eyes of actual rocket scientists.
Each day during the camp, students were introduced to different concepts in both lecture and hands-on formats, including field trips both around and outside the base.
On Monday, students explored the world of ocean science. That day included visits to the PMRF dive barn, where personnel from Underwater Construction Battalion Team Two guided the children through a tour of the facility, and gave demonstrations of their equipment.
Students were then ushered into the underwater range control room, where they were given an opportunity to speak into a microphone, which broadcast their voices via a speaker located deep under the waves of the Pacific.
Thanks to the many sensors used for tracking underwater events throughout the range, they were able to hear their own warbled voices via a speaker in the range control room.
All hands then hopped on a bus to be whisked away to the Port Allen dock, where the children were given a tour of the Seaborne Powered Target, or SEPTAR, boat facility, as well as the Autonomous Mobile Periscope System (AMPS).
The children climbed on and off the bright-orange SEPTAR boats, which act as targets during range exercises, and were given a lecture on the capabilities of the AMPS, which is a 26.6-foot, battery-operated submarine, complete with a full-size periscope, which simulates full-size submarines.
Tuesday’s theme was aviation and environmental science, and began with a lecture on the principles of flight from resident John’s Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory on-site representative Steve Rogers. The lessons learned from the lecture were then demonstrated utilizing plastic discs donated by officials with Lockheed-Martin.
Pilots and maintainers of PMRF H-3 Sea King helicopters and C-26 Metroliner aircraft then came to the class to talk about how the lessons the class had learned apply in the real world, which was followed by a tour of the PMRF hangar to see the actual aircraft.
The afternoon was devoted to the environment, with PMRF’s Environmental Coordinator John Burger offering a lecture and wildlife bus tour of the base. During the first part of the tour, the children were able to see the more-remote areas in which sea turtles are known to inhabit, and later they visited PMRF’s protected colony of shearwaters, and learned to identify various plants found in abundance on the base.
On Wednesday, optics was the theme, and the day started off with a visit from Envisioneering officials, who gave a lecture, put on a demonstration, and initiated a series of laboratory experiments for the children to apply their knowledge through the use of lasers and measuring devices.
The second half of the day included a visit from Oceanit offices, to discuss telescopes. After the presentation, the children were given the opportunity to build miniature telescopes with the lenses brought by Oceanit leaders.
Thursday was all about rockets. The children visited the various launch pads located on PMRF, and were witness to a BQM missile launch.
The day concluded with the students building their own model rockets under the guidance of PMRF engineers.
The finale of the camp came on Friday, when the children launched the rockets they made the previous day. Utilizing a five-rocket launch pad, Jerry Nishihira of Waimea High School’s Aeronautical & Science Academy (WASA) led the launches, during which the children counted down the launch of their own rockets.
After the spectacular rocket launch, the camp ended with a pizza and pool party at the base pool.
As for the best part of this year’s camp, 12-year-old Rae Murphy of the PMRF Youth Center said her favorite day was the one devoted to aviation science.
“Aviation day was the one I liked most,” Murphy explained. “Flight interests me. Last year I had entered a science project based on commercial space exploration at school.”
According to Waimea Boys and Girls Club staff member Oliver Moniz, it was the fact that there were so many different activities that made the camp special.
