Dear readers,
Welcome to the September edition of our monthly newsletter! In this edition, we will inform the reader of this month’s upcoming events as well as updates from each project team. We will conclude this newsletter with a recap of AIAA’s First General Meeting and Space City Rocketry’s Spaceport Experience.
— Josephine Argüello, AIAA Historian | SCR Project Manager
Sponsorship Package Completed
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Houston (AIAA-UH) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, professional engineering organization dedicated to expanding the presence of aerospace engineering on the UH campus. We are currently the only student organization that represents the aerospace field at the University of Houston.
AIAA-UH hosts two competitive project teams, Space City Rocketry (SCR) and Space City UAV (SCUAV). These teams provide our members the opportunity to contribute to a complex engineering project before entering the workforce in addition to increasing their technical skills. SCR competes annually at the Spaceport America Cup. SCUAV annually competes in the AIAA DBF competition. Our teams are held to high standards, which resulted in our high-powered rocketry team earning the #1 team in Texas at their annual competition in 2019 and 2021.
AIAA-UH also hosts two non-competitive engineering teams, Hobby Rocketry (HRT) and Amateur Radio Club (ARC). HRT provides members with the opportunity to build their own personal rockets and achieve a high-power rocketry certification. ARC gives members the chance to learn about radio communication and attain a HAM radio license.
Upcoming September Events
Space City Rocketry Bake Sale —Come and support SCR by attending their first bake sale of the semester!
Tuesday, September 13th | 12-6 pm | Student Center South
Space City Rocketry Sub-team Show and Tell — Each sub-team will bring physical components to “show & tell”. This is a great opportunity for prospective members to learn more about each sub-team.
Tuesday, September 13th | 7-9 pm | CBB
Hobby Rocketry Launch — Join us as our hobby rocketry team will begin the first launches of the year. Students from Hobby Rocketry will be launching their rockets in order to obtain their L1 certifications.
Saturday, October 8th | 10 am | Hearne Municipal Airport
Amateur Radio NASA HAM Shack, UH Fox Hunt
Date and location will be announced soon
Project Team Updates
SPACE CITY UAV
Space City UAV (SCUAV) is a competitive project team formed to participate in the AIAA’s annual international collegiate Design/Build/Fly (DBF) competition. SCUAV was formed in 2019 and has made great strides in the past years to develop its first UAV from scratch.
Following the team’s inception in 2019, and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the team was reformed for the 2020-2021 DBF competition. The team completed its second aircraft named Delta V, a blended body flying wing. The team is now in its third year and is getting closer to validating its efforts in the DBF competition. We are continuously growing and improving the UAV team and we need all the help we can get to ensure a successful future for SCUAV.
Our future goals include fully autonomous flight and a student researched and developed (SRAD) flight controller."
— Andre Jimerson, Chief Engineer
HOBBY ROCKETRY
"This program is for AIAA UH members interested in building their own individual model rockets, either for fun or to earn their Tripoli certification. The aim of this program is to have members learn individual rocket systems while honing in on their technical writing skills in a more laid-back environment compared to our other engineering teams. It is a great way for member to learn about all the systems needed to create a functioning rocket.
The Hobby Rocket club allows students to gain experience in model rocketry and achieve High Powered Rocket certification. The program is self-paced allowing busy students to progress even with the most strenuous of course loads. Members will have access to the project leads as well as previous certification carrying members in order to gain the necessary skills to gain their certification. The club accepts members from any degree plan and class standing. No experience needed, only an interest in aerospace and a self motivated attitude.."
— Seth Smith, Project Manager
SPACE CITY ROCKETRY
“Space City Rocketry (SCR) is AIAA-UH’s largest, competitive engineering team. The team’s main goal is to design, build, and compete with a high-powered rocket annually at the Spaceport America Cup (SA Cup) held in Las Cruces, New Mexico. During this process, students have the opportunity to gain real-world team engineering experience and deepen their knowledge of high-powered rocketry.
Since its establishment, SCR has competed at SA Cup four times with three different rockets. Firstly, in 2018, SCR competed with Prometheus. Competing in the 10k ft Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) category, the 6-inch diameter, 9 ft tall rocket was able to reach an apogee of nearly 8,000 ft. Later in 2019 and 2021, SCR competed with Oberon. Also competing in the 10k COTS category, the 6-inch diameter, 10 ft tall rocket reached 9,907 ft. Recently, in the 2022 competition, SCR launched Zenith in the 30k ft COTS category, reaching an apogee of 21,550 ft.
Next year, SCR plans to compete for the second time in the 30K COTS category with a brand new rocket. The team plans to learn from Zenith and reach an apogee of 30,000 ft. This goal would not be achievable without your support!”
— Ravi Desai, Chief Engineer
UH AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
“UH Amateur Radio Club (UHARC) is a University-based group of students, alumni, faculty and affiliates interested in gaining their HAM radio license. Members participate in amateur radio activities such as fox hunts and antenna design challenges, and have visited NASA Johnson Space Center’s HAM radio shack and the local PBS affiliate.
We work closely with avionics and recovery sub-teams from the other UH AIAA teams to design, build and implement vehicle-to-ground telecommunications and ground stations, as well as aid in competition operations.
Our club is currently collaborating with a nearby facility to install a UHF HAM Radio repeater capable of servicing all of Downtown Houston. It will be used to provide students hands-on experience with electronics, radios and antennas.”
— Kurt Rowland (KI5MUT)
Recap of Events
