The UCI Rocket Project is an undergraduate engineering design team at the University of California, Irvine, dedicated to the design and development of liquid bi-propellant rockets. The team’s main goal is to design a liquid rocket capable of reaching 100 km for the Base11 Space Challenge. The current iteration of the rocket is designed to reach 45,000 ft as a preliminary verification of the team’s design and manufacturing capabilities. The design utilizes a pressure fed system with a propellant combination of liquid methane and liquid oxygen. As the team moves further into the testing and verification stages, development of the rocket capable of reaching 100 km begins. There are a total of four launch windows for the Base11 competition that begin in May 2020 and end in December 2021. The team has a dedicated lab space with the resources necessary for general design and assembly, but manufacturing is typically contracted to professional companies. As the space industry continues to grow, the UCI Rocket Project will continue giving undergraduate students relevant and impactful hands-on experience to prepare them for the challenges of working in the industry.

Advisors: Professor Mark Walter

Professor Ken Mease