UMass Rocket Team 2019-2020

The UMass Rocket Team is an engineering design team at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, that competes in NASA’s challenging Student Launch Initiative (SLI), which is an annual, nationwide engineering competition to design, build, and launch high-powered model rockets with NASA-specified research payloads. The SLI provides an opportunity for undergraduates in engineering to gain knowledge of and hands-on experience with high powered rocketry. This year's rocket is predicted to reach an altitude of more than 4,800 feet, and its payload is a small rover designed to collect samples of simulated lunar ice.

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 through leadership, analytical, hands-on, and team-based work. Additionally, an important goal of the project is to stimulate interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields by engaging local K-12 schools with interactive and educational activities, which promotes our next generation of rocket scientists.

Successful SLI teams travel to the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama in April 2020 to launch and compete with other teams based on NASA’s scoring guidelines. The UMass Rocket Team travelled to Alabama for last year's finals, and we need your help to make it there again! The project is almost entirely reliant on funding from outside sources (with this fundraiser being the primary source), making your donations essential to the team's success. All contributions will go directly toward rocket materials, hardware, and travel costs for sending our 14-person team to Alabama.

Thank you! Your support will launch us to success!

Check out our website or Facebook page for updates on this year's project, our events, and our team.

For more information on the NASA Student Launch Initiative, check out NASA's webpage for the project here.