PEC students yet again have showcased their technical mettle, as a five-member team of students from the university is participating in the first annual Spaceport America Cup: Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC)2017.
With all the distinguished rocketry and aerospace industry names such as SpaceX, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Orbital ATK, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Space Dynamic Laboratory, Virgin Galactic, UP Aerospace and Armadillo Aerospace associated with it. This is officially the world's largest sounding rocket engineering competition that will be held at Spaceport America, Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States scheduled from June 20 to June 24, 2017.
IREC has a prevailing history since its inception in 2006 by ESRA (Experimental Sounding Rocket Association). This year in a recent collaboration with Spaceport America, SAC 2017 will proffer participants an excellent opportunity to launch rockets from that facility, which is currently utilized by SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, UP Aerospace, etc.
'Team Vigyaan' is the team from PEC, which is going to represent India in this international event. It is the first team from India to participate in the most advanced category of this competition i.e. 30,000 ft. SRAD (Student Researched and Designed) Hybrid/Liquid and Others. The objective of the competition is to deploy a minimum of 4 kg of payload at an altitude of 9.144 km (30,000 ft.) using a high power sounding rocket. What sets them apart is that until this date, no anonymous team and no private organization/company has launched a Two - Stage sounding rocket using a Hybrid Rocket Engine from anywhere in India. They are the first ones in Indian History to launch (or, conduct a flight test) a two - stage sounding rocket with a Hybrid Rocket Engine in India as the team will be observing their flight-tests here, before leaving for the competition.
The team is also engaged in a conversation with Godrej Aerospace, Mumbai for the complete fabrication of the rocket prototype and the final design. Godrej Aerospace is hugely renowned for their expertise and proficiency in Rubber andComposites, Space Engines and CNC Quality Machining being regular clients of ISRO, Brahmos Aerospace etc.
115+ teams representing the leading institutions of the world are participating in the competition. The university has approved the project and is proffering all the needed assistance required for the successful outcome from this participation.