{"id":143181,"date":"2021-06-07T11:57:23","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T21:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=143181"},"modified":"2021-07-20T16:37:02","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T02:37:02","slug":"2nd-place-national-rocket-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/06\/07\/2nd-place-national-rocket-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"2nd place finish in national rocket competition for UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa students"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"people<\/p>\n

University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa\u2019s Team H\u014dk\u016blele<\/a> won second place in the Friends of Amateur Rocketry<\/a> (FAR<\/abbr>) 1030 Competition on June 5. The team members from the College of Engineering<\/a> successfully launched their 15-foot rocket and payload in the national competition in Mojave, Calif<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

\"rocket<\/p>\n

The students launched their rocket called Kuamoʻo<\/span> (Milky Way) in the competition\u2019s 30,000-foot category, a cruising altitude for some commercial airplanes. Seven other teams competed in the 30,000-foot division.<\/p>\n

“Absolute chicken-skin moment that has me both nervous and excited. When I saw the rocket gain altitude, I knew that all of our hard work had paid off,” said Kailer Okura<\/strong>, Team H\u014dk\u016blele member.<\/p>\n

Kuamoʻo<\/span> was the first two-stage\/motor rocket for Team H\u014dk\u016blele, which was established in 2019. The rocket reached a height of approximately 30,000 feet and protected its components from liftoff to touchdown. The team also created a radio-controlled rover capable of traveling a distance of at least 10 feet after touchdown.<\/p>\n

The students ran into several issues with their rocket leading up to the competition, however, they were able to solve all of them before the launch.<\/p>\n

“I was relieved that everything fired as expected, the two stages separated as expected, and all the recovery systems deployed as expected,” said Leah Toma<\/strong>, Team H\u014dk\u016blele member. “I\u2019m really glad that everything else went much better than we had expected and was recovered in really good condition.”<\/p>\n