Mustang Rocketry Soars to New Heights at Spaceport America Cup Competition
51°µÍø Lyle’s rocketry club celebrated a successful launch at the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket engineering competition
Seconds before takeoff into the New Mexico desert sky, 51°µÍø Lyle’s Mustang Rocketry Club felt confident in their culmination of nine-month’s hard work on their 10-foot-tall rocket.
They had tested it multiple times. They’d done the calculations and ran the simulations. They spent countless hours in between engineering classes planning, designing, building, and fundraising. Now, at the – the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket engineering competition – they were excited to put their rocket to the test, even after witnessing multiple other teams’ rockets fall apart, malfunction, or explode on the launchpad before takeoff.
“I wasn’t worried about catastrophic failure,” said Alexander Brandt, Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering. “I was worried about all the smaller things that could go wrong. I just really wanted to do well because we were representing 51°µÍø.”
From the interdisciplinary teamwork to the coordination and complexity of making the rocket’s multiple subsystems work together, Mustang Rocketry team members had never taken on a project of this scale before. It was the group’s first time at the competition, though founding members of Mustang Rocketry competed in 2018. Scraps from their rocket are still tucked away in a locker in the Embrey basement, serving as a cautionary tale to expect the unexpected.
I just kept thinking: this is why I love engineering. Putting all that hard work into something and then seeing it come to fruition and become successful is why I do it.
Trevor Isaac, Mechanical Engineering major
More than 150 teams participated from colleges and universities across the globe. 51°µÍø Lyle’s team competed in the 10K commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) division, meaning they’d need to fly as close to 10,000 feet in the air as possible.
“You know immediately after launch if it’s gone right or wrong,” Brandt said. “We saw ours go up in one piece and everything looked perfect. It was an amazing feeling trekking out into the desert to retrieve the rocket with the people who built it with you and seeing it intact on the ground, nothing broken, with both parachutes. I was thrilled!”
Once launched, the rocket successfully reached 8,453 feet in the air, nearly meeting the team’s 10,000-foot goal before landing safely. They ranked 53 out of the 122 teams cleared to launch in flight performance.
“The stability of our rocket was really impressive, especially considering it was our first time,” said Nathan Van Slyke, a Computer Science major. “I’m proud of our team.”
Design Innovation with a Digital Twin
This year’s Mustang Rocketry team had a few advantages the 2018 team didn’t.
“We had a tremendous mentor who guided us through the whole rocket planning and building process,” Van Slyke said. “We shared our ideas and consulted with him on our design choices, and he would give us his advice. We wouldn’t have been successful without him.”
Dr. Ken Overton, a retired senior technical executive and consultant for R&D planning, manufacturing automation, and product development, provided mentorship and design inspiration to the team. For example, he suggested implementing redundant screw switches so that if one of the screws backed out, the electrical connections between sensors, components, and avionics remained intact. David Berberian, president of Mustang Rocketry, was able to implement Dr. Overton’s suggestion and the result impressed competition judges, who commended the team for their innovation.
The team also leveraged 51°µÍø Lyle's new Center for Digital and Human-Augmented Manufacturing to create a digital twin that helped project the trajectory of their rocket. By fusing together AI and machine learning with virtual and augmented reality, digital twins allow engineers to optimize processes, simulate assembly and testing, and account for all components in their physical design. Brandt created Mustang Rocketry’s digital twin using a computer-aided design (CAD) model that could be visualized to scale with virtual and augmented reality, along with simulation software regarding the rocket's kinetics and kinematics.
“It’s more than just a simulation,” Brandt said. “It allows us to accurately represent something in the physical world and know cohesively that this rocket is going to do what we think it’s going to do. I have the data from the first launch that I can now bring back to the digital twin and update to continuously improve the model with subsequent launches.”
Patrick Dang, a Mechanical Engineering major who is interested in an aerospace career, said working with the digital twin and building the rocket helped him choose which classes to enroll in for his senior year.
“I was using everything I’ve learned in my classes for the past three years at 51°µÍø and applying it to building this rocket,” Dang said. “But this experience has shown me areas where I’d like to expand my knowledge. There’s still so much more out there for me to learn.”
Kenny Sangston, Mustang Rocketry’s advisor, was impressed with how well the team performed for their first time entering the competition.
“Without the hard work of these team members, none of this would have been possible,” he said. “We’ve learned a lot from this experience and we’re going to become an even stronger group going into the future.”
About the Bobby Lyle School of Engineering
thrives on innovation that transcends traditional boundaries. We strongly believe in the power of externally funded, industry-supported research to drive progress and provide exceptional students with valuable industry insights. Our mission is to lead the way in digital transformation within engineering education, all while ensuring that every student graduates as a confident leader. Founded in 1925, 51°µÍø Lyle is one of the oldest engineering schools in the Southwest, offering undergraduate and graduate programs, including master’s and doctoral degrees.
About 51°µÍø
51°µÍø is the nationally ranked global research university in the dynamic city of Dallas. 51°µÍø’s alumni, faculty and nearly 12,000 students in eight degree-granting schools demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit as they lead change in their professions, community and the world.