Category:Rockets
| Rockets |
|---|
| Part of the Rockets series |
| Active Subteams |
| IREC (Solid Propellant) • Liquid R&D (Liquid Biprop) |
| People |
| Dr. Kentaro Hara (Team Advisor) • Ryan Finley (Co-Lead) • Koichi Kimoto (Co-Lead) • Diana Bernabe (Co-Lead) |
| Launch Certifications |
| Level 1 • Level 2 • Level 3 |
| Miscellaneous |
| CFD Workflow • So You Want To... • Avionics |
| V • E |
The Rockets team is a student-led group striving to push the limits of high power rocketry. The team's long-term goal is a shot to the 100-km Karman Line, which forms the common definition of space. Along the way, the Rockets team competes regularly in the Intercollegiate Rocketry Engineering Competition (IREC), the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) 51025 Competition, and the Collegiate Propulsive Lander Challenge (CPLC). The Rockets team is structured into team projects, a High Power Rocketry (HPR) certification program, and research & development.
Past team projects were Fountain Hopper and Phoenix. Fountain Hopper was a lander rocket project competing in the CPLC. In 2024, the project was expected to begin custom hybrid engine development and to prototype an electric ducted fan for simulating a full-scale lander vehicle, with the goal of a launch within three years.
Phoenix was a two-stage rocket project that competed at FAR 51025, fully equipped with redundant avionics, dual recovery on both stages, and a traveling rover. In 2024, Phoenix was planned to continue as a two-stage rocket project competing in the 2024 Spaceport America Cup IREC.
The team is currently split into two major teams: Liquid R&D and IREC. The IREC team is pushing to compete in IREC 2026 in midlands Texas. In the 2025-2026 school year the team has been working on a functional airbrakes system to accurately control target altitude.
The Liquid R&D team started in September of 2025. In the months since the team is nearly complete with the development of a test rig to cold flow and hot fire liquid engines. The team is aiming to hot fire a 60 lbf Nitrous/IPA liquid bipropellant at FAR on April 19th 2026. This will serve as a demonstrator for propellant management systems and ground station reliability. On May 3rd the team will return to FAR and attempt to Hot fire a 300 lbf Nitrous/IPA regeneratively cooled engine. The team is very excited to continue engine development in the next year and begin building flight vehicles with the R&D engines.
In order to help our team members learn the fundamentals of rocketry, the Rockets team builds and launches Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 high-power rockets. These are launched with national rocketry clubs, such as the Tripoli Rocket Association and the National Association of Rocketry.
The Rockets team Faculty Advisor is Dr. Hai Wang. The Rockets Propulsion team Faculty Advisory is Dr. Kentaro Hara. The current team leads are
@Koichi Kimoto
Check out the Rockets Team page for everything you need to know about the team.
Subcategories
This category has the following 6 subcategories, out of 6 total.
Pages in category "Rockets"
The following 34 pages are in this category, out of 34 total.