UMass NASA Student Launch Team

The UMass Rocket Team aims to take on NASA’s challenging Student Launch Initiative (SLI). The SLI provides an opportunity for undergraduates in engineering to gain knowledge of and hands-on experience with high powered rocketry. In accordance with the NASA SLI Guidelines, the UMass Rocket Team will design, build, and launch a high-powered rocket bearing various data-collecting payloads to simulate a NASA mission. Successful SLI teams travel to Huntsville, AL in April 2016 to launch and compete with other teams based on NASA’s scoring guidlines.

An important goal of the project is to stimulate interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields by engaging local schools with interactive and educational activities. Furthermore, the project is or will be thesis material for several Commonwealth Honors College seniors. The project is entirely reliant on funding from outside sources, and what funds the university can provide. Costs for the project most notably include hardware and travel expenses. The emergence of the SLI program at UMass provides a unique opportunity to expand technical knowledge in the fields of electrical, mechanical, and aerospace engineering for present and future students. Students involved gain valuable skills with leadership, analytical work, hands-on work, and team-based learning. Your support will propel us to success!

________________________________________________________________________

Where Your Hard Earned Money is Going:

We want you to know that all of the money that you contribute to this project is going to help us reach our goals for the competition. No donation is too small, and no donation is too big.

Build Materials and Fabrication Expenses: This money would go toward various hardware, electronics, 3-D printing, and other tools needed for building our rocket. The more we are able to spend here, the better equipped we are to win the competition.

Educational Outreach: We need funding to help us connect with nearby schools and help students learn about STEM fields with hands-on projects that we organize!

Competition and Travel Expenses: This is our greatest obstacle to overcome. We really want the entire team to be able to travel to Huntsville, AL and experience first hand the NASA Student Launch competition that we all put so much time into. It will also help us cover the costs associated with travel for our subscale launches

We want to go above and beyond these goals. The more we raise, the better our rocket, the better the outreach experience, the more people we get to send to the competition, and ultimately, the more we get to learn from this experience. Thank you for your support!

For more information please visit out website at www.umassrocket.com