History
Illinois Tech Rocketry was founded in 2020 with the goal of putting a student-built rocket into space. The team came together with no prior experience in rocketry to design, build, and launch a rocket within a year. From there, the team continues building and launching five more vehicles.
The organization's rigorous research and development has resulted in multiple successful launches, comprising over five different vehicles. Each one of these vehicles and testing plays a role in building up the technologies needed for a successful space-shot rocket. Custom RF beacons and flight computers are tested on Level 1 & 2 rockets before working as the primary flight computer.
Armed with determination and the skills of IIT students across all engineering disciplines, ITR has made incredible advances in composite structures, thermal protection, high altitude recovery, and onboard avionics systems. With an emphasis on pushing the cutting edge, the team is eager to showcase ingenuity and technical excellence.
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A sense of the unknown has always lured mankind and the greatest of the unknowns of today is outer space. The terrors, the joys and the sense of accomplishment are epitomized in the space program.
William Shatner
12/2022 - Big Red 2
Big Red 2 is a 4-inch diameter dual-stage rocket designed to test high-altitude recovery system for future mission. The vehicle was successfully launched to 12,800ft and recovered at Friend of Amateur Rocketry on December 14th, 2024. The rocket reached 12,800ft and safely recovered.
Centennial is a dual-stage rocket designed for 2024 Argonia Cup. On March 23rd, 2024, Centennial was successfully launched to 10,243ft at 2024 Argonia Cup, carrying 81 golf balls.
Big Red is ITR's first full-scale dual-stage rocket. The rockets were initially built for 2022 Spaceport America Cup. On December 16th, 2023, ITR successfully launched and recovered Big Red at Mojave, CA.
10/2023 - Mini-Red
Mini-Red was ITR's first dual-stage attempt. The ultimate goal of Mini-Red is to test the wiring and flight computer programming for dual-stage events like stage separation and sustainer ignition while trying our best to reuse the Level 1 rocket kit.
Talon I was built for the 2023 Spaceport America Cup, ITR's first entry at this competition. On June 21st, 2023, ITR successfully launched and recovered Talon I at Lacruz, New Mexico. With an altitude of 9,311 ft and a percent error of 3.5, Talon I placed 18th out of 119 teams competed and 11th out of 67 teams in the 10k COTS division.
Live. Thrust. Repeat was built for the 2022 Argonia Cup with golf ball payload and safely recovered the system at a predetermined location on the launch range. Unfortunately, the team did not attend Argonia Cup due to logistic issues and decided to launch Live. Thrust. Repeat at FAR in August 2022. With an altitude of 12,380 ft, LTR was the highest rocket at the time.
The small team of six decided to set their goal high, looking to compete at NASA’s Space Grant Midwest High-Power Rocket Competition. ITR built and launched Little Red, a 6-inch fiberglass rocket, flying on the L952W, for the competition. On April 18th, 2021, Little Red was successfully launched to 5,500 ft and recovered safely.
Around this time, the team had their eyes on ESRA's IREC competition, which sparked the interest of many group members. However, the team would not begin competing in IREC until two years later.
2020 - Founding
In the Fall of 2020, Illinois Tech Rocketry was founded by Andy de Fonseca (AE '22) as an amateur rocket club at the Illinois Insitute of Technology.
