Listen to Sahaj Mand, Technical Director of the USYD Rocketry Team talk about their challenges and experiences at IREC

Sydney University’s Rocketry team participated in the International Rocket Engineering Competition back in June, where they went up against thousands of university students across 19 different countries in the scorching heat of Midland, Texas in the United States. The competition went on for 6 long days from the 9 to the 14 of June and only 136 teams was able to successfully have their rockets take off.

USYD was able to secure their first place win with their rocket, Pardalote, leading them to winning the New Horizon Award along with winning first place in the Student Research and Developed Hybrid Liquid category. They also got runner up for Technical Excellence and Modelling Simulation awards.

Achieving this allowed them to encourage and inspire future undergraduates to step up to the challenge and doing things like this for their future.

“Our goal as a team is to contribute to Australia’s expanding space industry by conducting novel research, facilitating experiential learning opportunities, promoting STEM in the wider community, and demonstrating the technical aptitude growing within Australian universities.” – USYD Rocketry Team