The rocket of USC students reaches space by launching a record

The University of Southern California (USC) announced today (May 22) that a group of students has launched the first rocket designed by students and built by students. Their achievement, if confirmed, ends a decade-long informal competition between engineering schools around the world to create the first university rocket to perform spaceflight, officials said. USC rocket propulsion in a statement.

The internal analysis shows that the student vehicle, called Traveler IV, crossed the Karman Line, which represents the international boundary of the space at an altitude of 100 km. The analysis confirmed the achievement with a certainty of 90%, added USC officials.

The students launched the rocket on April 21 from Spaceport America of New Mexicowhere Virgin Galactic, a future space tourism provider, is the anchor tenant. The rocket successfully flew at altitude at 0730 local time, reaching a maximum recorded altitude of 339,800 feet (103.6 km) and a maximum speed of 3486 km / h.

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"[The achievement] makes the IV Traveler the first rocket entirely designed by students and built to fly in space, as well as its highest level of flight, doubling the previous altitude record, and the first university rocket recovered with space success, "USC officials said in the statement.

More than 80 undergraduate students participated in the rocket design, construction and launch efforts, which included obtaining the Federal Aviation Administration's approval for the launch. It was the fourth time that the university was trying to cross the boundaries of space.

"After almost 15 years and probably over a million hours of work, RPL has finally achieved its goal: to be the first group of students to launch the first rocket designed and built by a student at beyond the Karman line, "said Chief Engineer Dennis Smalling, an astronautical engineer. graduated from USC this spring, said in the release.

USC has identified several other first-fielder contenders in space, including Princeton University; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Boston University; the University of California San Diego; the University of California at Berkeley; and Portland State University. Among the international competitors were the University of Delft (Netherlands) and TU Vien (Austria).

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