The Sky isn’t the Limit, it’s Only the Beginning
NUST Rocket Team Aiming for US Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition
The global ‘space economy’ is projected to be worth USD $1 trillion by 2030. 80 countries now have satellites in space. In the next 20 years, more advances into space exploration have been planned than ever before throughout human history, including a manned mission to mars hopefully between 2024–30. Space is the final frontier.
However for those in Pakistan who look to the skies for their next adventure, there aren’t many opportunities on ground. That was the motivation behind forming NUST Rocket Team.
NUST Rocket Team (NRT) is an initiative launched by students of NUST-PNEC passionate about space exploration. The goal of the team is to design and manufacture an experimental sounding rocket capable of reaching 10,000 feet. NRT would have been Pakistan’s first and only venture to participate in Spaceport America Cup 2020, to be held in New Mexico, U.S.
The team was founded by four seniors; Zain Raza, Abdul Wasae, Ahmed Khan and Baseer Siraj, having fostered an avid interest in rocketry and space sciences. It grew to an aggregation of 18 students possessing the talent and work ethic required for lift-off at the Spaceport America Cup 2020.
The Spaceport America Cup is a prestigious inter-collegiate rocket engineering competition. With teams from Yale, MIT, Stanford, EPFL and other top-ranking universities taking part, even making it through the qualification round is a hard-earned achievement. NUST Rocket Team had cleared the registration stage and was one of 200+ teams from 18 countries competing this year. The SA Cup revolves around manufacturing and launching an Experimental Sounding Rocket. A sounding rocket, sometimes called a research rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. Each team designs, builds, tests and launches rockets with a payload size of 8.8 pounds and target altitudes of either 10,000 or 30,000 ft. Rockets are typically 4 to 8 inches in diameter and 8 to 20 ft. long. Multistage rockets and all chemical propulsion types (solid, liquid, and hybrid) are allowed.
Teams must submit their concept papers to make it through the registration round starting in October. The next 8 months consist of designing and manufacturing the rocket for the final take-off in June. The scoring is done on the basis of reaching the target altitude as accurately as possible, releasing a payload which along with rocket should be recovered through parachutes.
NRT had successfully finished designing and performing analyses on its rocket model, called ‘Raftaar. The model was designed to be fully reusable, thereby making it cost efficient. The team was in its fabrication phase when it was announced that Spaceport America Cup 2020 was cancelled due to Covid-19.
The team was disappointed but rather than backing down it is gearing up to participate in Spaceport America Cup 2021 with renewed dedication.
NUST Rocket Team’s vision extends beyond a mere competition. The higher aim is to inspire youth to take interest in rocketry and space sciences, and becoming the driving force behind the rejuvenation of Pakistan’s Space Industry.
