UMD Rocketry’s Team Working To Reach New Heights With Static Motor Test

DULUTH, Minn — With more than 100 students participating in the club, the Bulldog Rocketry Team is bigger and better than ever, and has a bright future on the horizon.

UMD takes part in a national college rocket competition every June in New Mexico, but in order to place 11th overall out of 150 like UMD did last year, preparation has to start many months before.

Part of that important prep work is a static motor test, which is what took place today.

It drew quite the crowd. An assortment of rocket enthusiasts, proud parents, and even UMD alums all came to see the spectacle of the test.

“Overall, the test was positive.” the team’s advisor, Jose Carrillo noted, “It did not happen perfectly, there was an interruption in flow that everybody witnessed, but that does not mean it failed necessarily. It just means we need to refine a couple of small details.” He continued, “In the world of rocket motor tests, this was a good test.”

But competitions aren’t the only thing for UMD to look forward to.

Carrillo added that the Bulldog Rocketry Team is always pushing themselves to the limit, and eventually might even set their sights on space.

“We are trying to prepare ourselves to do a launch that goes to 100,000 feet. And that hundred thousand foot shot is actually a test in itself so that we can eventually, hopefully in 6 or 7 years, be able to shoot to the edge of space.”

Carrillo thinks launching a rocket up into that range of 330,000 feet would really put UMD on the map as one of the few universities to ever reach that altitude.

You can support the team here at: https://www.bulldogrocketry.org/