2023-04-22 Benevity Form Questions

Please provide your organization's mission statement. (200 word limit)

From drawing board to launch pad, the RIT Launch Initiative is committed to providing members avenues for innovation and experience through real world applications. We pride ourselves on teaching our students the skills to thrive in the field of aerospace. We are continuously building upon the skills of our members and the knowledge base of our teams, with the eventual goal of developing a rocket that successfully reaches the Karman line.

Western NY

What Demographic and Geographical Area(s) does your organization serve? (200 word limit)

At Launch, we strive to bring in members from all backgrounds, both culturally and technically, and we do not discriminate against disability. We have maintained a policy of no member dues to ensure that there are no barriers to entry which may disproportionally affect underprivileged communities.

We encourage leadership from historically underrepresented populations, as is evident from the makeup of our current administration. The leaders of our Spaceport America cup team, our Director of Operations, our team Secretary, and our team's Social Media Director are women. These are integral positions at Launch. The IREC (SA cup) team is our primary competition team and contributes to the majority of our membership. Additionally, we have four non-binary members in our leadership: The President and Vice President of the organization, and two of our other project team leads. And the proportion of underprivileged peoples in our leadership is ever-growing.

In the team as a whole, we have members from multiple backgrounds as well. This includes but is not limited to: Members of the neurodiverse community, the LGBTQ community, and the ALANA (African, Latin, Asian, Native American) community.

placement within SA cup

career positions

new developments in college rocketry 

Connections with URRG and MARS

Please describe the measures you would use to define program success. Also, please indicate who is served by this program or event? (200 word limit)

The main determination factor for success would be our placement within the 2023 SA Cup. This is further derived from our placement within three categories: Technical, design, and flight performance. Since we pride ourselves on the ingenuity of our student members, we strive for new technical developments with each new rocket. Thus, another measure of program success.

But, the Launch Initiative is more than just a rocketry program. It develops students practical engineering skills. Consequently, we take into account where are members work, both over internships and after graduation when measuring program success.

Sponsors List

URRG and MARS

LAB

What other groups or organizations are partnering with you on this effort? (200 word limit)

We partner with numerous organizations both within the school and outside in our local community. These include the Launch Advisory Board, RIT Construct, and RIT KGCOE. Outside of the school we partner with URRG and Mars, our launch sites and all of our sponsors which can be viewed on our website

2022SA Cup: high rank in tech report and overall design

2021SA Cup: 17th overall

Please describe any recent results to highlight the success of the grantee/program thus far. (optional) (200 word limit)

The RIT Launch Initiative competed in last years Spaceport America Cup in New Mexico this summer. Over the 2021-22 academic year the, team produced a fully student manufactured rocket to reach a target apogee of 10,000 ft AGL. The rocket, VOID, is comprised of a fully composite airframe with precision machined components, custom avionics and livestream payload to be released at apogee. After competing against over 100 universities around the would, the team finished high in categories such as design and technical skills and 17th overall. All of the students involved learned an abundance of skills necessary to excel in the field of aerospace.

Additionally, We are almost ready to compete in this year's SA cup. We have finished manufacturing of KONG. It is a 10k rocket running off of a M2500 solid rocket motor. Our team has taken on many new and challenging rocketry concepts this year including a single bay deployment and deployable payload that will be testing our student designed and developed air brake concept as it falls. Also included, is a 100 ft streamer in place of a drogue parachute which will aid with recovery of the rocket and mitigate the chance of the payload getting tangled at deployment. Our avionics team will also be testing their SRAD flight computer as a ride-along on KONG.

RSMC Feedback from email

Please describe any community feedback you may have. (e.g. quotes from beneficiaries) (optional) (200 word limit)

Due to our community involvement, we are well regarded by important organizations like The Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC), Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Upstate Rocketry Research Group (URRG).  We held an exhibit at RMSC during their "space week" in which we presented some of our rockets and the work we do at RIT. We drew a lot of attention at the event and the organizers thanked us and invited us back for other events at the museum.

At URRG, we are their favorite collegiate team to have at the launch site. This can be attributed to our great organization skills whenever we use the launch site. We are always prepared and keep our members accountable for recovery and safety (both to everyone at the field and the property). And thus, our group is a role model for other rocketeers in the community