In competition, rocket made by UACM students stands out from other projects

With PET bottles and electrical tape, students from the Autonomous University of Mexico City (UACM) built a hydropropelled rocket that won the Hidrochallegue 2024 competition, a meeting organized by the Space Development Center of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN). in which this year 28 teams from national higher education institutions participated, as well as from Costa Rica and Guatemala.

The team made up of Javier Alfonso Andrade Narváez, Sashary Janinn Cantera Pacheco and Luis Enrique de la Rosa Ramos, led by Professor Alberto Pérez Cadena, worked for six months on the design of the artifact from a laboratory loaned by the UACM.

In interview with The Day, Cantera Pacheco, the only female member and who participated in the assembly together with Andrade Narváez, explained that for the structure they used 2.75 liter PET bottles, insulating tape, polycarbonate sheets and tools such as scissors, razor and soldering iron.

Our approach, in addition to meeting the requirements of the call, was to do more with less. Most of the materials used are homemade.commented the student.

It measured 1.75 meters tall and nine nine centimeters in diameter and weighed one kilogram. Inside it had microcontrollers (LoRa radio and ESP32), as well as sensors to determine temperature, altitude, pressure and dust, among other variables. Its cost was 4,700 pesos, 300 less than the limit established by the call.

Cantera Pacheco stated that one of the biggest challenges was getting the rocket to complete its mission (take off, rise and land) with a chicken egg inside.

There were days when out of 10 shots, only one came out well, and others in which out of five, all of them were successful. It was a roller coaster in which you had to keep your mind strong when the bad times came together.said the young woman.

De la Rosa Ramos, the team participant with the most experience in these endeavors and who was in charge of developing the software for the operation of the ship, said that he used tools such as React – one of the most current technologies to develop pages web– and Laravel, a system that allows data to be stored. It was a strong challenge because since these were relatively recent technologies, I was the only one with the knowledge to develop the software; I did it practically alone.

The competition included several stages that they had to overcome. At first they sent a design and financing report for the ship, then they presented a two-minute video explaining the characteristics of the device, and at the end the launch took place.

In each phase, different things were evaluated: from the structure (it could not measure more than two meters or weigh more than two kilos) to the landing system and the variables measured by the microcontroller. Meanwhile, in the launching part, the height reached and that the egg it was carrying was not damaged during the descent was considered.Andrade Narváez explained.

After the first two parts, the rocket of the UACM students, called Space Axolotls, was positioned in third place; However, on launch day it obtained the first place, because it was the only one that was deployed in two phases.

After reaching a height of 30 meters, Our ship was the only one that managed to open two parachutes, one with the circuit payload and the other with the rest of the rocket. The egg managed to land unharmed.

Another feature that added points for the victory was that the loading cabin, which protected the egg, was lined with foam rubber, cardboard and rubber bands, while the other competitors used pieces made in 3D and more expensive materials, which gave the impression that they exceeded the budget established in the call.

This is the first time that UACM students have had a notable participation in a contest dominated by institutions such as the IPN or the UNAM.

Our school is seen as a toy compared to the Polytechnic and UNAM, which have great prestige and recognition, but this victory showed us that it is not so much the campus or the institution that matters, but rather the performance we have as students. Our knowledge was sufficient not only to be at their level, but to surpass them.highlighted De la Rosa.

Andrade Narváez, Cantera Pacheco and De la Rosa Ramos hope to continue their participation in this type of calls and involve more students in their projects.

We have already done our bit by showing that we can stand out in these competitions; Now it is time to invite other young people to leave their comfort zone. Above all, I would like to invite women not to think that this is only for men; Both genders are smart enough to achieve our goals.stated Cantera Pacheco.