Our Crowdfunding Groups
Our Story, Years in the Making
The long-anticipated Rocket Lab for UCI Rocket Project first opened its doors on Friday, February 23, 2018. Since then, the undergraduate student-led team UC Irvine Rocket Project (UCIRP) has worked around the clock to launch UCI’s first liquid-fueled rocket.
We’ve encountered countless engineering obstacles along the way, some explosive, some time-consuming, and others anxiety inducing. Yet, we never lost sight of our goal to break the altitude record for collegiate liquid rocketry by designing, building, and launching our own Preliminary Test Rocket (PTR) to reach beyond 20,000 feet.
This is a project that has been touched by more than a hundred hands and continues to be shaped and molded by current students, mentors, and faculty ranging from diverse technical and cultural backgrounds. UCIRP provides engineering students the opportunity to work on complex systems within a multidisciplinary team of over 40 students. The project prepares students to become future leaders in areas of Propulsion, Structures, Avionics, Operations, and more across the Engineering Industry through hands-on training, project management experience, and exposure to the engineering design process.
We are on track to launch in Spring of 2022 after successfully accomplishing our third Static Test Fire last April with unprecedented performance and capability.
Our Rocket: PTR (pronounced Peter in spirit of our mascot Peter the Anteater)
PTR is designed to break the current altitude record of 13,000 ft for university-built methalox liquid rockets. Propelled by our PTE engine, its lightweight aluminum-composite body will soar to an estimated 20,000 feet and be safely recovered on the ground using a two-stage parachute. It stands at 17 ft tall, has 11-inch outer diameter, and weighs in at 180 pounds.
Our Ask
Every donation counts. Since UCIRP is a student-run organization, we rely on generous sponsors and donors like you to fund our dream of launching the impossible to reality. Our budget for the year is estimated to be around $30,000 for materials, manufacturing, tools, lab expenses, travel, and more. Thank you for supporting our mission to empower young innovators to overcome technological challenges through perseverance, teamwork, and good spirit. As a thank you, we would like to include your name/logo on our rocket if you choose to do so. For questions or further information, please contact rocketprojectuci@gmail.com.
Learn more about us: https://www.rocket.eng.uci.edu/
Follow Our Journey to Launch: https://www.rocket.eng.uci.edu/announcements/
Thank you for supporting our mission and being a friend to UCIRP.
Your gift of $100 is greatly appreciated! Thank you for making a huge positive impact on our team.
We can’t wait to fly our name higher than ever before on our Rocket! Thank you for making our launch possible.
