spaceshot 2024

Mission Overview

Aftershock I was USCRPL’s most ambitious project to date. The mission being to become the highest and fastest travelling student-built rocket of all-time.

Unfortunately, on April 20th, 2024, Aftershock I was unsuccessful. Upon ignition, the nosecone ejected because a COTS deployment board (Blue Raven) was programmed incorrectly by the avionics team, and secondary checks were not in place to catch the user error. The motor continued flying straight - without the nosecone - and was visually confirmed to be performing nominally. The nosecone was recovered near the launch tower, however with no recovery system the motor was not recovered.

However, the team is not giving up, and we will be rebuilding an identical vehicle, Aftershock II, with minor improvements, which will hopefully fulfill the mission of becoming the highest and fastest travelling student-built rocket of all-time.