INNOVATION Nov-Dec 2019

F E A T U R E

UBC engineering students and IREC competitors (l-r) Benjamin Maquignaz, Sean Bounger, and Nicolas Jaeger, carry Sky Pilot to the flight-check tent prior to launch in June, 2019. P hoto : ubc r ocket

A t the 2019 Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Cheers erupt from the UBC Rocket team members grouped near the launch control office. Their most recent supersonic IREC rocket, named “Sky Pilot,” had just completed a successful launch after eight grueling months of design and manufacture. Sky Pilot earned the team a commendable third-place finish out of 20 teams in the 30,000-foot Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solid motor category. All pieces of Sky Pilot were recovered using the on-board GPS electronics, which reported that Sky Pilot had achieved an altitude of 26,500 feet. Since its inception in 2016, UBC Rocket—a UBC engineering design team—has been designing, building, and launching suborbital rockets and competing annually in IREC. In addition, the team also strongly supports student academic and professional development, and the field of rocketry in Canada. In 2017, the team achieved first place in their category at IREC, beating more established teams from the US. This accomplishment fueled their ambition to compete Competition (IREC), held June 18 to 22, 2019, a thin, white rocket blasts up from the sandy horizon into the clear blue New Mexico sky, leaving a trail of smoke.

for the US$1 million prize in the Base 11 Space Challenge. The goal of this competition is to become the first student-led team to design and build a rocket with a single-stage liquid engine that crosses the Kármán Line—or, the edge of space, about 100 kilometres up—by the end of 2021. Several other Canadian student teams are also participating in the high-stakes Base 11 competition, including teams from McGill University and SFU. This increased involvement in student rocketry in Canada has caused an influx of engineering graduates into the growing Canadian aerospace industry. Graduates can use the skills gained through their rocketry design teams to continue innovating aerospace technology at Canadian companies—Canada’s main contribution to the international space community. Canada has maintained its position as a leading aerospace technology provider, with inventions such

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