PETALING JAYA: A team from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) will represent the country at the Spaceport America Cup 2022 - the world's largest collegiate rocket engineering conference in the United States in June.

The 12-strong team will be led by Vanmitha Athimoolam, and advised by Dr Norilmi Amilia Ismail and Dr Chang Wei Shyang from the School of Aerospace Engineering, besides being mentored by Julian Chee Yie Jian, and Ahmad Tamimi Ahmad Termizi, reported The Star.

It is worth noting that the team called "Team WAU Rocketry USM" is the first, and only Malaysian team to be shortlisted to participate in the competition, which will take place in New Mexico, from June 21 to 25.

They will launch the HEBAT rocket, which stands for H-Hardwork, E-Experience, B-Believe, A-Achieve, T-Together, 10,000 feet into the air under the Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) category.

HEBAT Rocket, which stands for H-Hardwork, E-Experience, B-Believe, A-Achieve, T-Together.

On the university's website, Norilmi Amilia said that she was proud of the team's prgress as they started off with very limited knowledge in rocket design and manufacturing.

However, with coaching from the experienced mentors, they managed to get up to speed in designing HEBAT, she said.

Team WAU Rocketry USM aims to build up the country's rocketry industry, and we wish them all the best in soaring to greater heights in the future!

Vanmitha, from Klang, has previously made headlines for her sky-high aspirations. She was selected as a finalist in a global Career Astronaut competition organised by US company Advancing X.

The five-year-programme will see four winners chosen for a suborbital flight, and Vanmitha aspires to be the sole Malaysian selected for it.

She was inspired to reach for the stars after watching the 2005 film Zathura: A Space Adventure, she had told news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT) back in January last year.

-Source from The Star Online