Rocket Team

Team Rocket

Environmental Stewardship & Social Justice

About:

The Rocket Team is the first student-run organization devoted to all things aerospace and rocketry at UC Santa Cruz. We teach students how to design, build, and launch high-powered amateur rockets in a safe and cooperative environment. Each school year, the team participates in the National NASA Student Launch Competition. 

Students participating with the Rocket Team gain valuable skills in practical engineering, aerospace research, and extensive team projects. Through the process of designing and building rockets each year, our members gain valuable experience working in teams to tackle the problems posed in rocket flight. As a team, our mission is to design and build high-power model rockets that model current challenges in space exploration and aerospace engineering and see UC Santa Cruz lead the way on developing sustainable and effective rocketry. 


Updates

Construction of this year's rocket began in early January and in early March the team performed a successful ground test for rocket separation. On March 19th, Rocket Team  conducted a full-scale launch at Tripoli Central California in preparation for the 2022 NASA Student Launch Initiative being held in Huntsville Alabama in late April.

During COVID, team found ways to work remotely and successfully assembled and launched a high power rocket and still compete in the NASA Student Launch Initiative 2020-2021, which was significantly impacted due to COVID-19. To support these achievements, we received funding from the Alumni Council, the Student Union Assembly, the Division of Student Affairs and Success, as well as multiple college senates which allowed us to increase engagement and retention within our team. Similarly, we held outreach events to increase engagement in STEM activities which reached over 200 people ranging from local elementary schoolers to college students.


Goals and Impacts:

The team successfully flew its maiden flight in the NASA Student Launch Initiative 2019-2020, placing 22nd out of 45 teams that qualified for the national engineering design challenge hosted annually by the Marshall Space Flight Center. This feat is one accomplished by only a select few colleges and universities (where most teams are comprised of mechanical or aerospace engineering department support), making UC Santa Cruz a newly impressive contender on one of the largest recognized scales of rocketry.


 To support our continuing mission to promote diverse STEM education, the team hosts various outreach events for students of all ages, at UCSC and in the local community. Events usually include launching paper rockets and other hands-on activities. Topics discussed include the history, science, and significance of rocketry, past and future NASA missions, and other space endeavors. We also mentor local robotics and rocketry teams, lending our knowledge to guide the next generation of scientists and engineers. The team also focuses on bringing diversity and gender representation to STEM through directed outreach. We hope that this will create a brighter future.


Get in Touch:

Website: ucscrocketry.com          Contact: ucscrocketclub@gmail.com         Facebook:fb.com/SantaCruzRockets