High-Power Rocket Club

The Kent State University High-Power Rocket Club began in 2016 and is open to all students. The club is an Integrated Product Team comprised of members with varying majors, assembled with the intent to design and build high-power rockets for professional competition.

This team is a student organization comprised of undergraduate students interested in the hobby of high-power rocketry. Collaboration, educating members, and providing leadership opportunities are encouraged throughout our season all while preparing for launches.

All students are welcome anytime!

Faculty Advisor:
Dr. Benjamin Kwasa, Assistant Professor bkwasa@kent.edu

Club Mentor:
Steve Eves, Tripoli #01735

2023 – 2024 Officers

Check out a Rocket Launch from camera mounted on the rocket.

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Photo: First Flight of Competition Day 2017.

Past Events

2023 Spaceport America Cup Competition  

In June, the Kent State High-Power Rocket Team attended the 2023 Spaceport America Cup in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The 6-day design build fly style competition is the largest annual collegiate rocketry competition in the world, bringing together nearly 6,000 students from 24 different countries. The Kent State Team, also known as Golden Flashes Rocketry, was just one of 120 teams that competed. The team’s rocket, Flashpoint, earned a 5th place finish in its category, and a 46th place finish overall. According to Rocket Club President Autumn Ohl, the rocket’s name refers to the temperature at which a combustible substance releases enough vapor to ignite in the air–like the rocket will ignite and take off into the air–while also giving a subtle nod to the Kent State mascot, Flash.

2022 Spaceport America Cup Competition 

On Saturday, July 16, the Kent State High-Power Rocket Team was recognized at the 2022 Spaceport America Cup Awards Ceremony for their 1st place win in the 10,000 ft AGL apogee student researched and developed (SRAD)  solid rocket propulsion system, also known as the 10K SRAD Solid category.  One-hundred and forty-nine teams were invited to participate in the competition, and a total of 100 teams accepted the invitation. The Kent State High-Power Rocket Team earned the overall ranking of 8th place and this was the first year the Kent State High-Power Rocket Team participated in this international intercollegiate competition.  

Space Grand Midwest High-Power Rocket Competition, May 19-20, 2018

The College of Aeronautics and Engineering’s 14-member High-Power Rocket Team took fourth place out of 14 participating universities in the 2018 Midwest High-Power Rocket Competition, in May outside Minneapolis, Minn. Led by project manager, Nelson Figueroa, and safety officer, Adam Fertig, the team designed, built, tested and flew a rocket meeting the competition requirements which focused on controlling the roll of the rocket during the ascent phase. Kent State took first place honors in two of the five graded categories including the launch and the team technical presentation. Kent State’s rocket, named Mark Rollberg, was also voted coolest-looking rocket. The team set a record of the most launches of the same rocket during the competition. Funding from the Ohio Space Grant Consortium and the College of Aeronautics and Engineering made Kent State’s participation possible.

Space Grant Midwest High-Power Rocket Competition, May 20 – 21, 2017

2016-2017 Competition goals: Student teams will design and construct an “adaptable” single stage, dual deploy high-power rocket system that will fly to the same highest possible altitude on two motors (one I-class and one J-class, or else one J-class and one K-class) that are as different as possible from one another. The rocket must be recovered safely and in flyable condition. The students must predict the rocket’s flight performance (with each selected motor) and construct a non-commercial on-board data collection package for the rocket that will directly measure velocity versus time, for comparison with data collected by a commercial rocketry altimeter, as well as sense and log airframe separation and parachute extraction from the airframe for both drogue and main parachute deployments, and also collect up and down video from outside the airframe to certify expected (i.e. primary, not backup) drogue and main parachute full deployment.

Competition Required Special Event: Outreach Program

The Kent State HPRC's objective for this year’s outreach program is to team up with Boy Scouts of America (BSA) troops in the Northeast Ohio area and, simultaneously, satisfy our outreach requirement and provide an opportunity for the Scouts to earn their Space Exploration Badge. The Kent State HPRC will present our competition rocket to the BSA and then assist the Scouts in building, launching and recovering model rockets.

Aeronautics Careers Education (ACE) Camp and Engineering Camp for Middle School Girls Educational Outreach

The Kent State High-Power Rocket Club will proudly be supporting the June 12-16, 2017, Engineering Camp for Middle School Girls and ACE camp. During these events, we will be conducting an educational outreach where the Kent State HPRC will present ideas regarding the fundamentals of high-power rocket design, development and engineering, as well as the role rocket technology plays in today’s advancing technology.