In late August, the University of Toronto Aerospace Team (UTAT) Rocketry division placed second in the advanced category— and cemented their place in the record books — at Launch Canada 2024.
“Our rocket, Defiance Mk. IV, reached 30,000 feet, which is the Canadian amateur rocketry record for a rocket with a custom-built engine,” says Luca Castelletto (EngSci 2T3 + PEY), the team’s former director.
“We’re incredibly proud of setting that record. This was our team’s third year in the competition. The first year, we launched our rocket and won the competition; the second year we had an ignition failure and couldn’t launch. So, we knew the different outcomes that we could expect and prepared as best we could.”
The third annual Launch Canada event, an industry-partnered intercollegiate rocket competition, featured 24 student rocketry teams from across the country, and took place from August 17-23 in Mattagami, Ont.
As the team began to prepare for the competition in the fall of 2023, their goal was to improve on the iterative design of their rocket. While the base technology of the engine stays the same, each progression introduces new components that enables increased performance.