BrookX Rocketry Team Advances to National Finals
By Michael Zhang
In April, our rocketry team here at Stony Brook, BrookX, confirmed the exciting news that both their ARC (American Rocketry Challenge) teams had advanced to the National Finals, placing them in the top 100 teams ranked nationally out of over a thousand teams from around the nation.
The competition consists of creating a rocket that is engineered to meet specific height requirements and flight times exact to the second, which entails rigorous test launching, in addition to being aware of various weather conditions and other unforeseen circumstances which all impact the final performance.
The ARC teams will travel to Washington, D.C. on May 15th and attend the event and conventions in Capitol Hill, and launch their rockets on the 17th at Great Meadow, Virginia.
Notable leaders of the program include Yeri Kim, who manages design, Roger Zhou, who manages data analysis, and Joseph Jung, who manages AI rendering models for more efficient design. Sebastian Guadalupe-Peña, the team’s leader of Outreach and STEM engagement, tells us that “it took a lot of luck and hard work for us to get there [to the nationals]”
For the most difficult challenge the team had to overcome, Sebastian mentioned the extensive time commitment to build and travel to different places to test the rockets. “The program basically runs year-round,” he said. “We start paperwork in August and sometimes even test during the breaks.”
It is important to note that not only does the rocketry team participate in the ARC, but also the NASA student launch challenge, a substantially more difficult opportunity offered to the top finishers in the ARC national finals. The smaller group of experienced students left on April 29th by car to Huntsville, Alabama, and spent the week representing Stony Brook in the prestigious competition.
Regarding the rocketry team’s outlook in the coming year, Sebastian assures the continued active participation in both competitions and plans to engage the community with STEM during the summer through venues such as the Long Island Maker Faire.
Learn more about the American Rocketry Challenge: https://rocketcontest.org/
For any inquiries related to the rocketry team, contact chin-tang.liu@sbs.org or a member of the team.