By: Alexander Kiner
How students of the Wisconsin Space Program work together across time and space to shoot for the stars
With a second-place prize in Payload Design at last year’s Spaceport Cup, the Wisconsin Space Program quickly made a name for themselves on the international student rocketry stage. Composed entirely of undergraduate students advised by a handful of faculty and professionals, the program evolved from a subsidiary of the American Institute of Aeronautics (AIAA) into its own, independent rocketry club.
Interest in the newly rebranded program has skyrocketed in the past year. “We’ve expanded from maybe 30 active members… to 70 active members, and there’s still a good fraction of those new members who are contributing,” says Andy Rivedal, the program’s treasurer. This growth is something of a mixed blessing. As program President Eugene O’Brien says, “upsizing has been a bit of an issue with getting budget… it’s just growing pains.”
Most members join during their freshman year, where they learn critical engineering skills such as using CAD and running flight simulations while working on one of the program’s subteams. Though split between different parts of the rocket, such as the payload, propulsion, or in-flight computers, these teams work closely together to optimize their product.
The program’s current goal is constructing a fully functional rocket that runs on liquid fuel, a major project they have spent the entire year working on. “It kind of just consumed the entire club… we’re all really involved with the liquid rocket,” says Kyle Adler, the program’s Propulsion Director.
Liquid fuel offers a more efficient and maneuverable alternative to conventional solid fuel systems, allowing the space program greater control over the rocket’s flight. The downside, however, is that liquid-fuel engines are far more complex. They run on a reaction between an oxidizing chemical and a combustible liquid, requiring custom-made specialized nozzles that precisely control the flow of fuel.
“It’s definitely going to take a lot of work, and a lot of passion, and a lot of people putting in the time.”
– Eugene O’Brien, Wisconsin Space Program President
As you might imagine, building this kind of rocket and sending it to space is no easy feat. Collaboration between the different teams in the program is absolutely essential. O’Brien puts it best, saying “it’s a system, it’s not three different projects. There [are] interconnection points, and it has to work. You can’t just make your own thing and expect to tape it to the rocket.”
To handle this need for interconnectivity, the program has regular biweekly all-staff meetings where different teams collaborate and discuss their shared engineering problems. At its core, the program is a long-term project. Senior club members strive to constantly teach newer members what they know and pass down the club’s shared knowledge. Furthermore, the program has a history of maintaining contact with alumni for years after they graduate.
Younger program members often find immediate benefits from the firsthand experience and inherited knowledge they gain from the program. “A lot of the onboarding I did last year was immediately applicable to my earlier classes… it’s just nice to have that exposure to it,” says Rivedal.
And the benefits extend beyond classes. “It gives all of our members a huge leg up in the industry,” Adler says. “Many of our members are interviewing at SpaceX, Blue Origin, and companies like that.”
“It’s definitely going to take a lot of work, and a lot of passion, and a lot of people putting in the time,” says O’Brien. If this year’s performance is any indication, the space program isn’t wanting for any of those.
Though it may take years to accomplish, the program’s goal remains clear. “We’re not called the Space Program for nothing, right?” says Rivedal. After getting their liquid rocket off the ground, preferably by the end of this year, the space program has set its sights on winning more student rocketry competitions and flying ever higher. Their ultimate goal? Sending their rocket past the Von Kármán line to become true space explorers.