OUR STORY:

Welcome to the Hybrid Rocket 2025 Senior Design Project! We are a group of 13 seniors at the University of Tennessee, mentored by the great Dr. Lyne, who is a both a rocket scientist and a medical doctor. 

We are tasked with making a hybrid rocket (solid fuel with an oxidizer) that can fly a minimum of 40,000 feet. It will be approximately 18 feet in height, and 5 inches in diameter. This rocket will be flown at the FAR-OUT competition in May 2026 in the Mohave Desert, California. This competition involves research groups that are flying their own rockets and is scored based on how accurately the rocket's performance was simulated prior to launch. 

In the 2023 competition, UTK took first place in their category (15,000-50,000 ft). However, the 2024 group unfortunately suffered a burn-through in the propellant tank, rendering them unable to fly the rocket. This year, we plan to rebound from this failure and make the most powerful and most efficient rocket yet. 

This rocket will act as the first stage in a future two-stage vehicle that will be completed by a future senior design group. By increasing our budget through donations, we can ensure that the rocket will not suffer a catastrophic failure and will be ready for the new design group to take over on the second stage. We need to make major improvements in the recovery parachute (to retrieve the vehicle safely), propulsion chamber, oxidizer piping, and hull design. 

DONATION INFORMATION:

While we do have some initial funding, these donations will help us make some much needed improvements. With your help, we can make all these changes and build the best rocket made by the University of Tennessee ever! These rocket projects can be quite expensive, so even a little help can go a long way.

There will be intermediate updates of our progress throughout the project. These updates should be emailed to you after donating, giving a glimpse into the process of building a propulsion vehicle. ALSO, requires a payload fitted into the rocket. As a thank you to the donors, we will be writing everyone's name down and including it in the payload. This will be your chance to fly in a rocket!... at least theoretically. We appreciate your donations, let's fly together!

TEAM MEMBERS:

Aidan Crisci, Aidan Lankford, Avah Cherry, Benjamin Reed, Cannon Emory, David Nguyen, James Smith, Jessica McKinney, Nick Moore, Owen Porteous, Reid Ruckman, Ryan Finn, Mason Blackwood