International Engineering Competition | A Quebec rocket among the best in the world

Last month. Nevertheless. Nevertheless, students from Laval University were crowned at the International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC), building a rocket reaching 30,000 feet above sea level. For example. Furthermore, They become the first team in Quebec – and the second in Canada’s history – to achieve this feat.

Posted at 8:00 a.m. However,

After having worked during the. Nevertheless, entire school year to design a two -story rocket. Nevertheless. the aerospace group of Laval University (Gaul) was crowned champion in its category at IREC, which was held in Texas. Furthermore, Its launch. However. which was to get closer to international engineering competition | quebec new the 30,000 feet as much as possible, has reached an altitude international engineering competition | quebec of 30,402 feet or 9266 meters.

Stop from June 9 to 14 in a desert area near Midland. Therefore. Texas, the 24 Gaul students returned to Quebec with an 11^e Position in the general classification on more than 150 universities, bringing together more than 2,000 students from around twenty countries around the world.

“We are very proud. In addition. because the double floor is a very difficult category,” says Jérémy Moreau, aerostructure international engineering competition | quebec new director of Gaul, in international engineering competition | quebec an interview. Furthermore, In the general classification, the double floor team closest to Gaul finished around 60^e echelon, a huge difference.

Three years for five minutes – International engineering competition | quebec new

For this group of students, victory is very good. Especially since it has been built since the fall of 2022, the year when the Gaul has relaunched its post-pandemic activities. Since then, the same nucleus of young enthusiasts is held tight.

In the first year of its recovery. the Gaul international engineering competition | quebec new participated in international engineering competition | quebec the Launch Canada competition, with a rocket on one floor reaching 10,000 feet. It was a learning experience.

Then, in the second year, genius students retained their luck at Launch Canada, with a rocket crossing 15,000 feet. They also participated in IREC for the first time, at 10,000 feet. Their victory came to the third year of the process.

“What is special is that we are preparing for months. then that the preparation the same morning takes several hours. but that the flight lasts just five minutes, illustrates Justin Binette, president of the Gaul. Once it is launched, we have nothing more to control, we just hope that everything is going well. »»

“Yes, it’s worth five minutes,” he said, laughing, when we ask him the question.

The feat is important: a two -story rocket. which includes two engines separating during the launch. is “three to four times” more complex to design than a simple rocket, tell us the members of the Gaul.

Due to the difficulty of the test, only six universities had registered in the two -story category of the IREC. The particular appearance: the second engine must light up to 10. 000 feet in the air. without human intervention – only international engineering competition international engineering competition | quebec new | quebec using a preinstalled battery and detector in the rocket.

Laval University, it had not launched this category for 10 years.

International engineering competition | quebec new

International engineering competition | quebec

A trainer commitment

Gaul members eat, aerospace. They mainly study in the baccalaureate in physical, mechanical or electric engineering, but also in engineering of materials and software.

“It really adds something special and important to our journey,” says Loïc Gauthier-Haintz, vice-president of the Gaul. We are part of a big team, we really rub shoulders. In addition to learning things in our lessons, we apply them. »»

Students. all interested in the space, also increases their chances of accessing an interesting position in the professional world with this involvement.

“On the CV, it is sure that it seems well. It is engineering directly applied. Businesses generally like it. It helped some members have internships, ”underlines Justin Binette.

“And we like the visibility it gives. We never thought we would give interviews in the newspaper to talk about our rockets, ”he jokes.