Husker Rocketry Team earns third place at Space Grant Midwest competition

A rocket system designed and constructed by the Husker Rocketry team in the College of Engineering placed third at the Space Grant Midwest High-Power Rocketry Competition in May. Hosted by the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium, the competition featured 14 college and university teams from across the nation. The University of Illinois and Northwestern University finished in first and second place.

In this competition, the teams created a “roll-orientable” single stage high-power rocket system that could fly twice with the same motor and be recovered safely and in flyable condition. The Husker team followed a set of commands to roll the rocket, dubbed ACROBAT (Angular Controlled Roll Orientable Body with Active Transmission) in a series of specific orientation angles and to hold those angles for a second each. A bonus challenge was to create a radio-based communication system to enable possible reprogramming at a distance and for data to be sent down to the ground while the rocket was still in flight.

Members of the team that traveled to the competition included Nate Mann, Brandon Warren, Bricen Margritz, Joseph Broadway, Quinn Brandt, Elizabeth Spaulding, Conner Vokoun, Kenny Thomason, Dillon Margritz, Stephanie Vavra and Grant King.