Bobcat Aerospace is a project-based club centered around aerospace engineering, which is the development of aircraft and spacecraft. The students create ideas they want to complete and build and as a group they tackle each other’s individual projects.
The Bobcat Aerospace team is also drawing its designs, building its engines and preparing for takeoff as the team works toward attending The Spaceport America Cup.
The Spaceport America Cup is a world competition where 30 to 60 different universities get a chance to compete against each other by launching rockets and will be held in June 2023 in New Mexico. The competition also has very specific set requirements in order for teams to be able to compete.
“Your rocket needs to fly up to as close as you can get to 10,000 feet,” Connor Martin, an electrical engineering senior, said. “And then it needs to be able to eject some interesting payload, and that could be a drone or some scientific research going on, and then you need to be able to recover the rocket as well.”
Currently, they are looking to have prototypes for more efficient rocket designs in hopes to be able to attend and compete in the contest.
In the School of Engineering, master students are required to create an organization as a part of the curriculum. Bobcat Aerospace was created in fall 2021 by alumnus Connor Hammond, who was a graduate student that received his degree in mechanical engineering.
“I thought it’d be a good thing to put on my resume or a good organization to join,” Joshua Guiterrez, a mechanical engineering freshman, said. “Joining them might give me more connections later on in the business or maybe give me an idea if I wanted to go into aerospace or if was something I liked or not.”
Joshua Bacack, a mechanical engineering technology junior, said he joined the club to help the other members and see what he could bring to the table to help the team improve.
“That’s when I saw the flyer on the wall,” Bacack said. “I said, ‘Oh aerospace. Okay cool’ but let’s see what this is about.”
The club said that if anyone is looking to join, all they have to do is attend the meetings. The club accepts anyone of any major.
“I think there’s this stigma, not necessarily a negative one, but there’s a stigma that you have to be an engineering student to be a part of the group. That’s not true,” Bacack said. “We really want to expand and include all other educational opportunities on campus.”
Mark Summers, a manufacturing engineering professor, hopes that they will be able to find more students to take over in order to keep the club going.
“They’re really trying hard to get people involved to take over,” Summer said. “So hopefully they can keep it going.”
For more information on the Bobcat Aerospace team, visit https://bobcataerospace.wp.txstate.edu/team/.
