2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Rocketry has been regaining popularity in recent years, especially with the advancements in space exploration and technology. The interest spans across various age groups and professions, from school students participating in science fairs to professionals in the aerospace industry. NASA’s space efforts in returning to the moon and in visiting Mars have redoubled the interest in our youth for learning about rocketry, satellites, and related aerospace topics. The success of private space companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin has also sparked a renewed interest in rocketry.

The field of rocketry design and flight operations is a highly sought experience for engineers of various disciplines, as well as computer science, robotics, physics, and geomatics/geosciences students. Many universities and educational institutions now offer courses in rocket science and engineering, and there are numerous clubs and organizations dedicated to rocketry. The National Association of Rocketry (NAR), for instance, is the oldest and largest sport rocketry organization in the world, with over 100,000 members. Online platforms also offer courses on rocket science, making it more accessible to a wider audience.

The author has been queried by students regarding the possibility of offering such a course at UNIVERSITY for a number of years. Now that UNIVERSITY has been successful in spawning its new Aerospace Engineering degree program, student demand for rocketry experiences has sharply increased. It is expected that this course will be very popular and that it will attract numerous students to UAF in the long term. In addition, the new course has quickly drawn support by university leadership and has already resulted in offers of student internship programs by federal agencies.

UNIVERSITY course, COURSE#, Rocket Systems Design, provides students with the opportunity to gain practical, hands-on aerospace experience in the field of rocketry and launch operations. This course provides students with the requisite academic knowledge and technical experience needed to successfully design and build small rockets, and to train them in safe and effective launch and recovery operations. The course provides students with the knowledge and tools needed to chart a career in rocket design and launch operations, and to successfully compete for technical grants involving rocket research and operations.

Students will demonstrate understanding of the systems engineering development process by completing the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of sounding rockets and payloads. Specific learning outcomes include: (1) Understand the systems engineering design process (SEDP); (2) Comprehend the complex interaction and interdependencies of rocket systems; (3) Understand mission operational planning considerations, such as flight planning, logistics footprint, and data requirements planning; (4) Design, build, and test a rocket supporting a payload with a selected remote sensing mission; (5) Demonstrate the ability to clearly and concisely communicate a rocket design throughout the phases of the SEDP in both written and oral form; (6) Be familiar with missions performed by the LAUNCH RANGE and STATE Launch Facility supporting research and public service.

This course is being offered at UNIVERSITY beginning Spring semester 2025 and follows the path of previous highly-successful rocket design/launch programs. The course instructor has previous experience teaching similar courses at the USAF Academy Department of Astronautics, including both a single-semester course such as this one, and a multi-semester senior design sequence. This course is meant to be the first step in developing a similar multi-semester capstone design experience and research capabilities leveraging UNIVERSITY’s LAUNCH RANGE and STATE Launch Complex capabilities.

Support for this course is high, both among student groups and university faculty and leadership. This course is already supported by various academic departments and student groups, including a mechanical engineering senior capstone team which is designing a portable launch rail for their senior design project. The course is also being examined as one possible multidisciplinary senior design project which can satisfy various other department capstone requirements. Additionally, the course has sparked student interest in forming a design club participating in various high-power rocketry (HPR) competition events.

This paper will detail the course organization, how it has been structured to satisfy student interests in gaining hands-on engineering design experience, practical experience in conducting safe and effective launch operations, applying this technology to solving important national interests and arctic research, how this body of experience is expected to help them in their own careers and endeavors, and how that experience ultimately strengthens the university program for future students. The paper is coauthored by students involved in the rocketry/launch rail courses and by the course instructor, providing perspectives from both a personal and institutional point of view.