USM rocket team makes Malaysia proud by winning 11th place in Spaceport America Cup 2022

By Audrey Dermawan - July 21, 2022 @ 1:31pm

Universiti Sains Malaysia’s (USM) maiden participation in the Spaceport America Cup 2022 in the United States last month saw it ranked 11th out of 153 teams in the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket engineering conference and competition.

GEORGE TOWN: Universiti Sains Malaysia's (USM) maiden participation in the Spaceport America Cup 2022 in the United States last month saw it ranked 11th out of 153 teams in the world's largest intercollegiate rocket engineering conference and competition.

Of the 153 teams, only 66 teams were selected to launch their rockets, while the rest withdrew or faced safety issues.

WAU Rocketry USM, as the team calls itself, also came in sixth place in the 10,000ft category out of 46 participating teams.

Speaking to the New Straits Times, WAU Rocketry USM project manager A. Vanmitha said its members were extremely proud of being first-timers in the Spaceport America Cup 2022.

"This is a good start. The team considered this a good performance, more so this is our inaugural participation in the competition.

"We will work on the part we lost our marks, particularly in flight performance, to ensure we rank better the next time. We will begin our hard work for next year's Spaceport America Cup this coming semester break. We are very excited about the road ahead," she said.

Vanmitha said WAU Rocketry USM scored the full 60 marks for entry and progress, technical report (164.5 marks from the total 200), design (228.8 marks from the total 240), flight performance (379.7 marks from the total 500) and another 50 bonus mark.

WAU Rocketry USM's inaugural entry also earned it a social media award from the judges during conference day as the team had constantly kept the organiser updated on their progress.

USM, represented by 11 undergraduates from its engineering campus, was the only Malaysian public university to participate in the Spaceport America Cup 2022, which ran from June 20 to June 25.

It was Malaysia's inaugural participation in the contest, which is observing its 15th anniversary this year.

WAU Rocketry USM's eight-month hardship paid off when their HEBAT rocket took off, soared through the sky with pride and landed gracefully during the conference day. The rocket's name stood for Hardwork, Experience, Believe, Achieve and Together.

 

MALAYSIAN-MADE ROCKET BLASTS OFF INTO NEW MEXICO SKY

HEBAT caught everyone's attention, and the Spaceport America Cup gave full coverage of HEBAT's launch at the event site in New Mexico until its recovery. The launch and flight were without any structural damage.

The rocket, weighing 30kg and measuring 3.3m in height, was built at RM35,000. Its mission was to launch the rocket to an altitude of 10,000ft or 3,048m and recovered it safely.

Vanmitha said the group's commendable performance during the contest proved that there was a bright future in the local aerospace sector and that Malaysians were capable of building rockets.

"We have set a benchmark to inspire more Malaysian university students to pursue their passion and dream by participating in future Spaceport America Cup competitions, which will contribute to the nation's rocketry development.

"Many students think that this field has no future but we just prove them wrong," she added.

Vanmitha said, moving forward, WAU Rocketry USM looked to expand into a larger team.

"We plan to expand the number of management, media and engineering team members. The team we have now had to do multiple tasks, putting us under pressure.

"So, the upcoming team members will have their respective tasks," she said.