Students Win Rocketry Competition

MELBOURNE, Fla. — In early June, a team of Florida Tech students from the university’s rocket club, SERFT (Steely Eyed Rocketeers of Florida Tech), won a
rocketry competition with a successful launch in Flagler County. The team competed against five other teams from Embry Riddle and the University of Central
Florida in a Florida Space Grant Consortium-sponsored event at a Northeast Florida Association of Rocketry Launch site in Flagler County.
The Florida Tech students won the overall competition with the most successful (within 4.2 percent of predicted target altitude of 2000-feet) flight and
best engineering in the precision category.
“The students designed both the hybrid engine (Plastic/liquid NOS) and the airframe. Our machine shop provided most of the engine parts fabrication with
some student assistance,” said Greg Peebles, director of the Florida Tech Safety Office.
The Florida Tech students, primarily freshmen and sophomores, competed mainly against seniors from the other universities. They were solely responsible for
flight engine assembly and launch. The rocket airframe was entirely student fabricated.
The rocket and avionics were safely retrieved for a future launch.
The Florida Tech students earned $750, the largest cash prize of the competition.