Help the Rocket Team at UCSC in its goal of sharing our love for aerospace with the Santa Cruz community, and building sustainable and reusable rockets with NASA!
NASA University Launch Competition
The funds raised go toward materials for our outreach events at local schools and, more importantly, toward the assembly of our massive 15-foot reusable rocket. This year, NASA tasked our team with creating a solution for landing on other planets. Once the rocket is designed, manufactured, and tested, the team will travel to Huntsville, Alabama, where we'll put our rocket through its paces, competing with more than 50 other collegiate teams from across the nation.
Rocket Team Payload
This year, NASA tasked our team with creating a solution for landing humans on other planets without knowing the atmospheric composition. Our response to this challenge was to develop a mid-air deployable pusher drone. This drone is designed to deploy at 400 feet above ground level and safely land four replica humans.
Rocket Team Airbrakes
One of our team's goals for this launch vehicle was to have active control over how high it went. Our answer to this goal was to develop an airbraking system that is designed to deploy three flipper fins out of the rocket. These fins, when deployed, almost double the amount of drag our rocket produces, thus slowing it down. This, combined with active PID control, allows our team to accurately control the deployment angle of these flipper fins, enabling the rocket to fly to a specific height.
Thank you to our 2024 Partners