SPACEPORT AMERICA CUP 2022 , THE LARGEST ROCKETRY COMPETITION IN THE WORLD & MY DAUGHTER'S TEAM…read moreWON. TEAM USYD & ROCKET - BLUEWREN
(NEW Revised with additional data and sound adjustments, for love and respect of our daughter who has followed a dream I had 40 years ago....)
2022 "Spaceport America Cup" drew participants from 22 Competing Countries, over 150 Competing Teams and over 1700 Aerospace Students from around the world. We were always extremely proud of Sarah (2022 Rocket Recovery Engineer USYD Rocketry Team), she and her Team just upped the ante on Awesome.......
"Spaceport America Cup" is the world's largest intercollegiate rocketry competition made up of students from all over the world who now travel to Las Cruces New Mexico in the USA to showcase their engineering skills. Home of Spaceport America, Las Cruises New Mexico, USA.
ESRA, the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association, originally partnered with Spaceport America 5-years ago, the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport located in southern New Mexico, to offer academia and industry a unique opportunity to collaborate, compete and inspire the next generation of aerospace engineers and scientists. Beginning in 2017, ESRA's Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) became the flagship activity of a new annual event called the Spaceport America Cup (SA Cup).
Scott McLaughlin, Executive Director of Spaceport America "Not only does it bring together the world's brightest and most talented engineering students, it showcases what the World has to offer, and It really falls into part of our mission at Spaceport America for STEM Outreach and Workforce Development."
In 2019 the University of Sydney Rocketry Team won the then 10,000 ft Spaceport America Cup, while two years of Covid-19 killed the USA Live Competitions, the 2022 Team is now following in their footsteps. In 2022, after 2-years of reeling from the Global Pandemic, Spaceport America Cup is celebrating its 15 year anniversary, so they have increased the target from the 10,000 ft competition, and introduced 30,000 FT.
COMPETITION TARGET OBJECTIVE
Achieving as close to 30,000 FT without overshooting the target while carrying a Dynamic Payload designed by the Team to be handled mid-flight, the recording of all Video & Telemetry Data of the Flight and its Cargo/Payload, and finally returning ALL Stages of the Rocket safely back to Earth.
Team USYD, during flight the rocket, developed a robot arm that engaged and retrieved a piece of "Space Junk" simulated by securing it as a pendulum (payload) inside Bluewren, to simulate live space conditions. With computer vision for tracking and monitored by the team's telemetry capabilities, both the booster rocket and the main rocket were safely parachuted back to Earth and retrieved.
USYD were winners in the 30,000 Feet Category for Technical Recording and Handling of their Space Payload. 'Bluewren' also achieved a height of 29,933 FT on a Target of 30,000 FT. The Team is now awaiting confirmation of the Overall Winner, delayed due to late launches, weather conditions and Judges flight data confirmation Judges flight confirmation.
Through several sleepless nights watching rockets launch and then viewing the Award Night live, it was one of the proudest moments of my life.
From Sarah watching MacGyver over and over as a small girl, and always building things, like a working elevator at 7-years old, and every night tucking her in without fail it was the why and how is this made, in addition to her amazing puppet shows. Her heart is the only thing bigger than her intellect.
As she has grown up Sarah is now following a dream that will open doors for her into the future of Space Exploration inside her lifetime.
Only 13 were selected and travelled to the USA. The following is also to honour the entire 33 Member USYD Rocketry Team:
Bhavesh Bobby Balaji - Payload Director
Vismay Bhadra - Media Director
Flynn Bryant - Recovery Lead
Omrik Choudhury - Avionics
Daniel Cook - Chief Engineer
Alistair de Vroet - Project Director
Jerome Fan - Engineer
Mitchell Galletly - Ironbark Director
William Giang - Engineer
Darin Huang - Payload Engineer
Mohamed Abbas Junejo - Engineer
Thilanka Panthie Kankanangem - Engineer
Andre Kotevski - Engineer
Adnan Kureshi - Engineer
Thomas Lando - Engineer
Allison Lockley - Executive Director
Han Ly - Engineer
Said Mouhaiche - Engineer
Vinit Nikam - Engineer
Gorgia Odlin - Avionics Engineer
Emily Sacks - Engineer
Mathew Spiritosanto - Engineer
Andy Scott - Engineer
James Stokes - Aerostructure Lead
James Taleb - Engineer
Will Tedeschi - Engineer
Vishnu Thangallu - Engineer
Blair Tholen - Avionics Engineer
Queenie Wang - Recovery Engineer
Sarah Zwajgenberg - Recovery Engineer