About the Team
The Texas A&M University Sounding Rocketry Team (SRT) is an interdisciplinary student-run organization dedicated to developing engineering talent through design, construction, testing, and showcasing of complex rocket systems powered by solid motors and hybrid rocket engines. Our goal is to develop our members into talented engineers by providing them with the necessary skills and tools to grow and succeed. Every day we aim to accomplish feats only thought possible in industry by incorporating professional design reviews, rigorous testing, and in-depth documentation of individual systems, hardware, and software.
Latest News
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October 15-17, 2025
From October 15-17, 2025, four members of Texas A&M's SRT avionics sub team (Matthew Davidson, Shaan Patel, Riley Peterson, and Tres Trevino) traveled to Abu Dhabi, UAE, and captured first place in the 2025 TII Rocket Telemetry Challenge, securing the $30,000 grand prize. SRT was one of only two finalists selected from 46 international submissions, ranging from university teams to aerospace companies. The challenge tasked teams with developing a telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C) system that could maintain a data link with a suborbital sounding rocket. The team's path to the finals was challenging. They were forced to redesign their entire system after their original, built for the Morpheus rocket, was damaged in a prior launch failure. This necessary redesign led to significant upgrades, including a better radio modem, enhanced overall reliability, and a system that was easier to operate. The adversity continued during the finals. The team had to adapt on the fly, fixing last minute SD card and VERTEX system issues while also lowering their transmit power to 250 mW to comply with UAE regulations. During the final testing, SRT's telemetry system successfully operated at a range of 0.9 km, with their analog video feed functioning at 1.1 km. Although these distances fell short of the 2 km goal, and they were unable to present digital video due to range limitations, the team's overall performance and exemplary design secured the win. June 9-14, 2025
In June of 2025, SRT sent fifteen members to Midland, Texas to compete in the Midland SpacePort competition. During their first two days in Midland, SRT showcased their impressive technical work on the rocket, Morpheus, during presentations at the Horseshoe Pavilion. Following this, SRT managed to successfully launch Morpheus, with a few challenges along the way. The team had to make the difficult decision to disable their live video telemetry system before launch after discovering it was interfering with the rocket's critical recovery electronics. Post-launch, the team faced another major challenge when Morpheus had difficulty receiving data packets, complicating the search and recovery process. Despite the rocket being recovered fully intact, the team eventually turned it in to the judges’ tent only partially recovered. Even with the mission being ruled a partial recovery, SRT's engineering excellence shone through. The team earned a highly respectable 10th place finish out of 61 teams in the competitive 30K COTS Solids Category. June 22, 2024 Nineteen SRT members left for Las Cruces, New Mexico where they competed in the 2024 Spaceport America Cup. Throughout the next few days, members set up their information table at the convention center, began networking with other teams competing, made final touches to the rocket and its parts, and launched on June 21st. There were times when SRT and other teams faced difficulties during their launch attempts. Launches were delayed because of high winds, a dust storm made it difficult for teams to prepare, and rain caused interference with many teams' electronic systems. After all the hard work, the team launched their rocket, Telemachus II, and placed 6th in 10K COTS (Commercial Off the Shelf), won the Best Live Onboard Video award, and placed 10th overall. |
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Competition
The Experimental Sounding Rocketry Association annually hosts the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition. This year, Spaceport America continues their partnership with ESRA to host the Annual Spaceport America Cup. The emphasis of the ESRA rocket competition is student design and construction of as much of the rocket as possible, including any propulsion, structures, avionics, recovery, or payload systems.
AwardsSRT-13 (2025-2026)
2025 TII Rocket Telemetry Challenge | 1st Place SRT-11 (2023-2024) 2024 International Rocket Engineering Competition | Best Live Onboard Video 2024 International Rocket Engineering Competition | 6th Place | 10K Commercial Off-The-Shelf Rocket SRT-5 (2017-2018) Texas A&M University | Adair Student Organization of the Year Award 2018 International Rocket Engineering Competition Conference | Selected Podium Session SRT-4 (2016-2017) 2017 International Rocket Engineering Competition | 2nd Place | 10K Student-Researched & Developed Hybrid or Liquid Rocket 2017 International Rocket Engineering Competition | Charles Hoult Award for Modeling & Simulation 2017 International Rocket Engineering Competition Conference | Selected Podium Session |
Flight of Telemachus-II at the 2024 Spaceport America Cup
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Our Sponsors
The Texas A&M University Sounding Rocketry Team would like to thank our sponsors for their support as we continue to improve our rocket systems and prepare for the Spaceport America Cup.
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Professor Brad Worsham
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Evan Marcotte
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Kinney Family
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Jeanette '85 & Gregory Doll
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Ross Alexander
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Bradford Stricklin
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James & Angela Pettit
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Alex Pages
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Gabriel Aguilar
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Cristian Sanchez
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Michael Venesky
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Jared Kizer
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Jon Kizer
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Mr. and Mrs. Ron Heinz
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Mrs. Stephanie Dodd
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Dr. Chi L. Mai '09
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Johannes Tjandra
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Thomas Arrington
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Keaton Dodd
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