Ramblin' Competition Rocketry
Ramblin' Competition Rocketry
A RAMBLIN' ROCKET CLUB PROJECT
Ramblin’ Competition Rocketry is Ramblin’ Rocket Club’s competitive team, dedicated to excellence in intercollegiate competition rocketry. With multiple launches and hands-on milestones throughout the year, RCR offers members an immersive engineering experience in a fast-paced, team-driven environment. From vehicle design to experimental payload development, members engage in design, testing, and iterative development.
2025-2026 Competition Season
Team Achievements
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Competed in the world's largest collegiate rocketry competition, the International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC).
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Ranked inside the top 20% of teams in both general ranking and in the 10K COTS Solid category in just our first year in the competition.
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Flew an actively controlled airbrake system in a test rocket, achieving an apogee error of less than 1% with respect to the target altitude.
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Successfully hot-fired a hybrid motor, laying the groundwork to qualify and fly the engine in the next IREC competition.
2024-2025 Competition Season
Team Achievements
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Completion of the 2025 NASA University Student Launch Initiative competition as a first-year rookie team
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Competition launch to 4000 ft with the Coquí vehicle
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Fully functioning vehicle and advanced payload, both fully customized
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Awarded the NASA Artemis Student Challenges Pay it Forward Award for excellence in community STEM outreach
One Mission, Many Minds
Vehicle Subteams
Vehicle subteams are responsible for the design, development, and integration of the vehicle and all flight-critical systems.
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Structures: Designs, manufactures, and tests the structural and aerodynamic surfaces of the rocket, including the airframe, internal structures, and components such as fins, airbrakes, and boattails.
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Recovery: The recovery sub-team develops the rocket's recovery system to ensure a safe and reliable descent. This includes parachute sizing, altimeter integration, deployment testing, and GPS tracking.
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Simulations: The simulations sub-team models and predicts vehicle performance to inform critical design decisions. Uses tools such as RASAero, RocketPy, and CFD software to determine vehicle aerodynamics, stability, and flight profile.
Avionics and Payload Subteams:
Leads the development of onboard electronic payloads, including telemetry systems and experimental payloads, and also designs active control laws. Deals with electronics and software for mechanical actuators.
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Electrical: Designs, assembles, and tests custom PCBs for telemetry, experimental payloads, and mechanical actuators used for controls.
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Software: Develops code software for telemetry, state estimation, payload operation, mechanical actuators, and designs the control laws for the controllers (airbrakes).
2026-2027 Competition Season
We are coming back to IREC, but this time in the 10K SRAD Hybrid category with our in-house nitrous-oxide hybrid motor. Payload entry for the Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) Payload Challenge - a competition specifically for experimental payloads on IREC rockets.
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Mission Log
Vehicle | Est Launch | Launch Date |
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Matterhorn | June 2026 | 06/20/2026 |
Sub-Scale | ||
Coqui | June 2025 | 06/17/2025 |