Student Clubs Launch New Experiences
After one last check, the countdown started: five, four, three, two, one—a rocket shot upwards as students erupted in cheers. This was the scene at the Launch Canada Competition on August 20, 2024, where the University of Waterloo Rocketry Team launched the first liquid engine rocket (liquid bi-propellant rocket) in Canada.
Ash ( In the middle; has glasses) working as a telemetry operator
The rocket, named Borealis, reached 5,855 meters in altitude and won first place in the Advanced Category. Two students from Conrad Grebel University College were involved in the project: Ash Lang, a second-year Mechatronics Engineering student, and Lucas Shumaker, a third-year Environmental Engineering student.
The Waterloo Rocketry Team is a University of Waterloo student design team of up to 100 members that designs and builds rockets for competitions. This past year, Ash was part of the electrical team responsible for designing, building, and testing a flight-critical circuit board. She also acted as a telemetry operator during the launch - in her words, a role similar to “what the rows of people looking at various screens would be doing during a Space Shuttle launch at NASA”. Lucas contributed to designing, manufacturing, and testing the recovery system, which included parachutes. This launch was significant because it was the first successful liquid engine rocket in Canada. A liquid bi-propellant engine is superior to solid engines because it can be shut down and restarted during flight and requires less mass to get to the same height.
“I think that being a part of Waterloo Rocketry, while an important extracurricular, is one part of a larger whole experience” Lucas explained. “I would recommend that all students get involved in exciting projects outside of their program! Design teams don't have any requirements to be in a specific program, so anyone from any program can join. When you join projects outside of your expertise, you can learn new skills and grow experience in various areas, even when it may not seem to be directly related to what you're studying or where you plan on working,” he advised. “Picking up new skills and continuing to learn outside of the classroom helps contribute to understanding how to use your education or skills in various areas.”
Lucas was introduced to the Waterloo Rocketry Team when his partner, a co-lead of the team, asked for help with sewing parachutes for the rocket. In turn, Ash learned about the team through Lucas and his partner, whom she had met at Grebel. Lucas found that he enjoyed designing, testing, and iterating parachutes and other components of the recovery system.
Lucas ( In the front, holding the rocket) and team is testing Borealis's recovery system
Regardless of their different roles within the team, the most satisfying part for both of them was that their hard work and sleepless nights paid off with the launch of the Borealis. The team now plans to make the next iteration of the rocket go faster and higher. This means “a whole new set of problems to consider,”Ash remarked. “I’m really excited to tackle some of these more complex challenges with friends, while helping to onboard newer members and make their experience on the team as good as possible.” Meanwhile, Lucas plans to completely redesign the rocket’s recovery system to make it more effective.
Ash and Lucas’s experiences with the Waterloo Rocketry Team are just a snapshot of the different activities that Grebelites participate in at the University of Waterloo. This diversity of extracurriculars contributes to the various experiences, perspectives, and beliefs which make up the Grebel Community. "To me, rocketry has been such a great opportunity to take on interesting, complex challenges that I wouldn’t get just from classes or by doing things on my own,” added Ash. “It’s also taught me so much, both in terms of technical skills, but also about how to work with a large group to take on these huge projects, and I’ve made so many friends – it really has been a blast.”
By Tasbiha Ansari
