The Queen's Indigenous Rocket Team emerged victorious at the First Nations Launch competition in the USA, the first time a Canada-based team received more points than every other team at the competition! The Vice-Provost, Global Engagement, Dr. Sandra den Otter, sends her congratulations on this remarkable result.
When the grand prize was awarded this year in the 鈥淢oon鈥 and 鈥淢ars鈥 challenge categories, victors University of Colorado-Boulder (88.8 total points) and University of Washington-Seattle (97.5 points) finished behind the International team at Queen鈥檚, which was awarded 103.3 points after completing the Mars Engineering Challenge. The team had to fabricate their rocket from raw materials this year, making it lighter and stronger than an assigned commercial kit comparator.
鈥淔irst Nations Launch is an excellent competition, from the way it is structured and managed, down to the unique opportunities and prizes awarded to the participants throughout the process,鈥 says Melanie Howard, the Team Advisor. 鈥淭he team has built up over several seasons, growing and sharing their skills in rocketry and responding to the various engineering challenges presented by the competition, so I鈥檓 particularly proud of their accomplishment this year in finishing first overall.鈥
According to from the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium, 鈥淭he first-place teams, the University of Colorado-Boulder and the University of Washington-Seattle, along with our International Champion, Queen鈥檚 University, will be invited to Kennedy Space Center for a VIP tour in August.鈥
