Liberty Space Club To Launch Rocket By 2023

For members of the Liberty Space Club, it is rocket science – literally. The club’s goal is to launch a rocket into space in 2023. Currently, they are making rockets to launch in collegiate-level rocketry competitions. 

Space Club Vice President Daniel Hembree explained the process. 

“Our goal is to compete in collegiate level rocketry competitions,” Hembree said. “Teams of students will design, build, test, launch and then recover a rocket that is uniquely their own design.” 

Hembree said the club is on track to launch the rocket Genesis in 2023. It’s a single stage, solid motor rocket around 12 feet tall, which will produce around 3,000 newtons per second impulse (thrust). 

Rocket science is a matter of trial and error, and Liberty Rocketry is putting in the work to ensure they will be ready when launch day comes, according to president of the Liberty Space Club Cole Derosett.

“We’ve never done this before. Every time we face an obstacle, it’s our first time doing it. So, we spend a lot of time researching together and learning together,” Derosett, head of the propulsion sub team, explained.

And it can be a process that requires the team to repeat a process over and over again before they see progress. 

“For the propulsion team alone, we ran 100 simulations last week,” Derosett said.

All five sub teams have their own responsibilities for the rocket’s design, creating many moving pieces that all must come together. But for the team, it’s not just about checking a box. 

“We’re not just trying to scrape by, stick our head down and build the rocket and launch it up and say we built a rocket and launched it. But we’re trying to be the best,” Hembree said.

The team’s confidence, and especially their success, comes from the Lord, Hembree said.  

“The Lord’s been in it from the start, and we’re so blessed to have the opportunities that the Lord has given us,” Hembree said.

The club has enjoyed forming connections with the director of NASA’s research and development, membership in Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) and an abundance of funding.

The Liberty Space Club has two subdivisions – Liberty Rocketry and Liberty Orbit. Liberty Orbit was birthed from a meeting with the head of the Virginia Space Grant Consortium about something else entirely. Derosett, Hembree and their team were making a pitch to receive more funding when something unexpected came up, they said. 

“Within the first five minutes of the meeting, they were like, ‘Oh, yeah, you got that totally fine. While we’re at it, we also have one extra slot, and we’ll pay all of the funding for it. All you have to do is build a satellite by July (2022), and we’ll have it up in space by August,’” Hembree explained. 

The team, blown away by the opportunity, eagerly began the project. 

“There’s only a handful of universities, not necessarily just in Virginia or in the country, but in the world that have functioning hardware in space,” Derosett said. “The possibility to put Liberty’s first piece of anything into space, that has strictly been because of the Lord’s favor on the team.”

The club currently has 90 members and is always open to more. Students can get involved by contacting the club on                       Instagram @libertyuspace.

Blevins  is a feature reporter.

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