AeroMavs Makes History at the International Rocket Engineering Competition
The University of Texas at Arlington's AeroMavs, a student-led rocketry organization within the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, made history at the 2026 International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC), earning three international awards and achieving milestones never before accomplished in the organization's 18-year history.
IREC is the world's largest collegiate rocketry competition hosted every year, bringing together university teams from around the globe to design, build, test, launch, and recover high-powered rockets. The competition challenges students to apply engineering principles through every phase of a complex aerospace project, from initial design and manufacturing to flight operations and post-flight analysis.
During the week of June 15, the AeroMavs team traveled to Midland, Texas to compete with ATLAS, the team's high-powered rocket that represented months of engineering design, manufacturing, testing, and systems integration.
On Tuesday, June 16, AeroMavs reached a major milestone by participating in the IREC Podium Session for the first time in the club's 18-year history. The Podium Session is reserved for teams selected to present exceptional technical work before judges, industry professionals, and fellow competitors. During the presentation, AeroMavs showcased the engineering, modeling, simulation, testing, and validation behind the team's roll control system and active air brake system. These systems were designed to actively control the rocket's roll during flight while using deployable air brakes to precisely regulate the vehicle's altitude, demonstrating a high level of systems engineering, technical analysis, and iterative design.
Two days later, on Thursday, June 18, AeroMavs successfully launched ATLAS in the West Texas desert. Battling extreme heat, high winds, and demanding launch conditions, the team executed a successful flight that validated months of preparation and engineering work.
The mission continued after launch as the recovery team spent the next two days trying to retrieve the rocket. ATLAS was successfully recovered on Saturday, June 20, but not without significant challenges. During the recovery effort, members of the recovery team became stranded in deep mud for nearly nine hours while working to reach the rocket. Despite the difficult conditions, the team refused to abandon the mission and ultimately recovered both the rocket and its components safely. The experience highlighted the determination, adaptability, and teamwork that define AeroMavs both on and off the launch pad.
The team's performance earned three prestigious international awards:
• 1st Place – Jim Furfaro Award for Technical Excellence
• 1st Place – Charles Hoult Award for Modeling & Simulation
• 2nd Place – Nancy Squires Team Spirit Award
The achievements marked several historic firsts for AeroMavs. For the first time in the organization's 18-year history, the team earned multiple international awards at a single IREC. The competition also marked the first time AeroMavs was invited to participate in the IREC Podium Session, making the team eligible for the competition's highest technical honors. AeroMavs went on to earn the Jim Furfaro Award for Technical Excellence, making it the club's first-ever Podium Award.
The Jim Furfaro Award for Technical Excellence recognizes teams that demonstrate exceptional engineering discipline through technical analyses, project execution, operational procedures, manufacturing processes, systems engineering, and iterative design improvement. The Charles Hoult Award for Modeling & Simulation recognizes excellence in mathematical modeling and computational analysis, while the Nancy Squires Team Spirit Award honors teams that exemplify professionalism, resilience, enthusiasm, and sportsmanship throughout the competition.
These accomplishments reflect the dedication of AeroMavs' student engineers, who devote countless hours outside the classroom designing, manufacturing, testing, and refining launch vehicles while gaining hands-on aerospace experience. Their historic performance not only represents the most successful competition season in the club's history but also showcases the strength of experiential learning within UTA's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. As AeroMavs continues to push the boundaries of student rocketry, the team remains committed to advancing engineering innovation while inspiring the next generation of aerospace engineers.
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