Hundreds of hours of dedication and work by students at the University of Nevada, Reno's Aerospace Club paid off after a successful rocket launch reaching 16,850 feet high in the playa of the Black Rock Desert.
"It went great! I mean, we had a main energy failure, but despite that, our drones deployed and it came down perfectly," said Justin Powell, the club's Acting Vice President.
This is only the second time the club has conducted a rocket launch. The first was over a year ago.
"The first one, Cloud Runner, went up to 27,000 feet about a year and a half ago," said Club President Caden Wierman Curtis. "It's sort of been our main flagship project up until now."
However, Curtis says the purpose of the second rocket, named Horizon, is more for durability rather than height.
Powell explains. "It survived a much more intense hit against the ground than we expected, and it just shows the resilience of this airframe, and we'll be out again soon to test it."
Even though the rocket faced some electronic malfunctions, students managed to retrieve all the pieces after it landed and are able to reuse it, which they say is the biggest achievement.
Aditya Nair, university assistant professor and supervisor of Aerospace Club, says, "If you can save cost for an undergraduate lead club, that is everything because money is not, of course there's a sponsorship the way voyager has helped us, but it is something where we want to build a sustainable program where we want to use this rocket at least three more times for the launches."
The club coincides with the University's newest George W. Gillemot Aerospace Engineering Program that started just this fall.
This test launch was made possible by a $5,000 donation from the defense and space tech company, Voyager.
"As our company grows, we're looking for more engineers to help us as far as in the rocket propulsion area," said Dustin Barr, Voyager's Director of Advanced Technology.
Barr says they've been partnering with the University in an effort to help grow their team since opening their Reno location in 2011.
He says it's not easy finding qualified people in this specific industry, but since working with the Aerospace Club, he's been able to find more passionate and qualified students to connect with.
And the partnership has proven to be successful for both the company and the students.
Nair says, "Our past presidents of the Aerospace Club are now, for example, in Voyager and thriving."
Powell adds, "A lot of our members we find to be just fairly successful, so for anyone who wants to get involved with the club, I'd say do it, get involved."
To learn more about the university's Aerospace Club and Voyager, you can click the links.
