HISTORY MADE The Ateneo de Davao University rocket team, shown in this June 10 photo, is the first Filipino team to compete in the 2024 Spaceport America Cup in New Mexico, United States, the largest world intercollegiate rocket engineering competition. —Joselle R. Badillarocket
DAVAO CITY — A rocket team composed of aerospace engineering students from the Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) successfully launched the “Sibol” rocket during the Spaceport America Cup, the world’s largest student rocket competition held in New Mexico, United States, on June 22.
Fr. Karel San Juan, SJ, president of AdDU, showed the video of the commencement to more than 1,300 graduates and their parents during the commencement exercise here on Saturday.
“This is AdDU’s humble contribution to the development of space technology, which is crucial in our pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals,” San Juan said.
READ: Filipino students to participate in Spaceport America Cup in New Mexico
The team’s hybrid rocket, Sibol, a 9.7-foot high-power rocket carrying a payload of 8.8 pounds (4 kilograms) to an altitude of 3,048 meters (10,000 feet), competed in the solid propulsion (solid propellant) 10,000 commercially off-shelf category.
It was the last rocket launched on the third day of the competition, according to Dr. Rogel Mari Sese, chair of AdDU’s aerospace department, who was part of the team of 16 aerospace engineering students and advisors, including ‘engineer. Ramon Gregorio III and Wilfredo Pardorla Jr., who are part of the university’s aerospace engineering program.
First of PH
The AdDU team is the first to represent the Philippines in the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition, dubbed the world’s largest student rocket engineering competition, which was held from June 17 to 22 this year in New Mexico, and brought together approximately 1,700 students from 200 different universities in the United States and 20 other countries.
Of the 152 teams registered, 86 came from the United States and 66 from foreign countries, including the Philippines, India, Taiwan and Thailand.
The aerospace students developed their rocket prototype in about a year, Sese said. After passing rigorous flight readiness testing, this ultimately earned them a spot in the tilt.
He said the Philippine rocket was safely recovered from the field immediately after launch.
The launch came six years after AdDU began offering a BS Aerospace Engineering here in the 2018-2019 school year.
According to San Juan, the university’s rocket team is a crucial part of AdDU’s largest rocket development program, Project Sugod (Cebuano term for starters), which aims to advance aerospace engineering in the country.
“Through this initiative, we aim to not only compete in future Spaceport America Cup competitions, but also inspire and nurture a new generation of Filipino engineers and scientists, thereby positioning our country as a thriving hub for aerospace innovation,” San Juan said during a media launch on June 10.
Rockets bring satellites into space, Sese was quoted as saying by Atenews, the official school publication of AdDU, at the event.
Sese cited the many uses of satellites for broadcasting information, accessing the Internet and navigating using global positioning systems, taking images from space and viewing weather forecasts, among other things. “Our own Philippine satellites can help monitor crop health and optimize fertilizer use; monitor the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; observe the behavior of the oceans…Satellites can also help us monitor typhoons and other extreme weather events,” he said.
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“The launch is a victory for Filipinos who strive for excellence and innovation in space technology,” said Franz Carlo Guevara, who led the rocket team of 16 students, which also included Azaella Beatriz Amposta and Ryve Caasi, flight operations manager; Mariz Aylah Cenojas, Dylan Ruth Mayled and Avery Clyde Dimasuhid, structures managers; Franz Joseph Tinapay and Mary Nicole Jacinto, propulsion; Angelo Ryan Dolina and John Vincent Manog for avionics and payload; Cai Roxana Reyes and Neil Andrie Paye for recovery and security; Ryle Radinka Gere, Nhorman Carl Baluran, Jose Kelvin Juson and Lenwen Kirk Cacho for logistics and documentation.
