The 5th Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition was held June 16-18, 2010 near Green River, UT. Participating teams were from Brigham Young University (BYU), California State University - Long Beach (CSULB), Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU; Daytona Beach, FL campus), and the University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA).
First Place: ERAU
Second Place: BYU
Furfaro Award for Technical Excellence: CSULB
Congratulations to all the teams--there were four successful launches in the "Basic" Category (launch a 10-lb payload closest to 10,000 feet above ground level). UCLA was planning to attempt a launch to 25,000 feet AGL for the "Advanced" Category, but were unable to fly due to technical issues. After the competition was over, they were able to conduct a successful static firing of their student-designed and -built paraffin/nitrous oxide hybrid motor.
ERAU produced an excellent summary video of the competition:
Video of UCLA Hybrid Motor Static Firing
At the Awards Banquet, Janet Hoult offered the following poem in honor of the student rocketeers:
ROCK Solid
ROCKeteers
by
Janet
Hoult
5th
Annual
IREC June 2010
There
is a ROCK in
ROCKet
And in ROCKet engineers
It
makes them very
stable
And allays their fears
Of
hang-fires and
break ups,
Of tail fins and igniters
That do
not work the
way they should;
But engineers are fighters.
They
work to find
the problem
Be it large or be it slight
And
they’ll be sure
to find it
If they stay up half the night.
So
here’s to student
ROCKeteers!
May they keep ROCK steady
And
come compete at
ESRA
When next year’s ROCKet’s ready.