HIGH-POWER TEAM
2023-2024 Team
This team will be the seventh team to participate in the Spaceport America Cup in Las Cruces, New Mexico. They will be competing in the 10,000ft Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Category.
Team Members
Team Lead - Nathan Butler
Systems Team Lead - Bradley Hornfischer
Systems Engineer - Tyson Butterfield
Structures Team Lead - Joshua Taylor
Structures Engineers - Haylee Sevy, Barry Creighton
GNC Team Lead - Aidan Rice
GNC Engineers - Wyatt Whitmer, Zach Lyman
Payload Team Lead - Casey Gooch
Payload Engineers - Spencer Stowell, Taylor Anderson
Overview
The High Power Team (HPT) is BYU Rocketry’s IREC competition team and represents the end of the association’s timeline for students. The HPT provides students experience with high power rockets and aerospace industry practices through hands-on design and manufacturing. The HPT also exposes members to major aerospace companies at the SA Cup and brings notoriety to the club, helping encourage more students to participate in BYU Rocketry.
Team Structure
- Team Lead (1)
- Responsible for leading team to meet project vision and goals
- Receives recommendations and requirements from club presidency, SA Cup
- Organizes team and directs work
- Helps coordinate design decisions affecting multiple sub teams
- Structures Sub-Team (3)
- Structures Lead (1)
- Structures Support Engineers (2)
- Tasked with the physical structure of the rocket
- Guidance, Navigation, Control (GNC) Sub-Team (3)
- GNC Lead (1)
- GNC Support Engineers (2)
- Tasked with data collection and recovery systems of rocket
- Payload Team (3)
- Payload Lead (1)
- Payload Support Engineers (2)
- Tasked with designing and constructing the payload of the rocket
For more detailed information and documentation for this team please refer to the MEPS handbook section for High-Power Team
If you'd like to apply to the team:
Applications open early August each year.
2023 - "Solitude"
Awards
- Charles Hoult Award for Modeling and Simulation
- 1st Place: 10k Commercial Off-the-shelf Catagory
- Overall Winner of the 2023 Spaceport America Cup
The first team to win the Spaceport America Cup. The team's rocket, Solitude flew a textbook flight, reaching an apogee of 9,938ft. This was only 62ft from the target altitude of 10,000ft! Solitude carried a thermal radiation payload, which was ejected radially from the rocket at 5,000ft during descent and recovered independently to measure the Nightsky Radiative Cooling effect at different altitudes. The rocket had a test flight at Tripoli Idaho reaching 9,832ft with a successful recovery of both the rocket and the payload.
The team was recognized for multiple awards for flying so close to the target altitude and demonstrating excellence in design quality, build quality, and technical communication. The team was also recognized for technical achievement simulating and measuring the fin flutter resonance of their custom carbon fiber fins.
Team Members
(Left to right)
Dr. David Fullwood (Faculty Advisor), William Hart (Payload Lead), Alexander Potter (GNC), Anya Jeppson (Structures Lead), Dallan Trentman (Payload), Derrick Walker (Team Lead), Blake Jenson (Structures), Brad Hornfischer (Payload), Scott Tuley (Club President), Nathan Butler (Structures), Aidan Rice (GNC Lead), Riley Brown (Systems), Joshua Taylor (GNC, not pictured)
2022 - "MAVERICK"
AWARDS
Placed 31st over, ranked 18th Place out of 46 in the 10K COTS Category, and received 2nd Place for the Barrowman Award and Sportsmanship Award.
The first team to participate in the Spaceport America Cup in two years. The team's rocket, Maverick flew a textbook flight, reaching an apogee of 10,432ft. Despite being over the competition's goal of 10,000ft, the actual flight was very close to the simulated apogee of 10,470ft. Maverick carried an anti-sloshing payload, featuring a machining-learning module to prevent sloshing in a water tank within the payload. The rocket had a test flight at Tripoli Idaho reaching 10,676ft with a successful recovery.
The team was awarded runner-up for the Sportsmanship Award at Spaceport America Cup.
Team Members
(Left to right)
Blake Jensen (GNC), Brayden Smith (Payload Lead), Cayden Boll (GNC), Derrick Walker (GNC Lead), Riley Brown (Structures), Scott Tuley (Structures Lead), Brennen Dover (Structures)
Team Lead: Matthew Fisher
2021 - "Sundance"
Sundance featured a reaction wheel control payload that was intended for competition in the SDL payload challenge in the SA Cup. The rocket also was intended to house the first rocketry BYU Capstone project, an air brake system.
Team Members
(Left to right)
Mark Sweeney, Ryan Thibaudeau, Josh Ross, Adam Dunford, Natasha Wilson, Ryan Merrell, Alexa Lindberg
(Not in photo)
Alex Jordan, Harris Rothaermel
2019 - "Photon"
2018 - "Wasatch 1"
2017 - "Kevin"
