KU Students Aim for First Liquid-Fuel Rocket in Space
The University of Kansas has entered a competitive arena that blends advanced engineering with collegiate ambition: the race to be the first university to launch a liquid-fuel rocket into space. This effort is being driven by the Jayhawk Rocket Propulsion Design club, a student-led organization founded in August with a clear objective—crossing the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space at 100 kilometers above sea level.
The challenge pits KU against established teams from institutions such as the University of Texas, California Polytechnic University Pomona, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Purdue University. Many of these competitors have been working on their rockets for months or even years, giving them a significant head start. KU’s team is working at maximum efficiency to close the gap.
The club’s co-founders, aerospace engineering Ph.D. candidate Brody Gatza and master’s student Orion Roach, have already begun development on their first rocket engine, dubbed Baby Jay in honor of the university’s mascot. Baby Jay will undergo a year-long research and development phase, with the goal of conducting a hot-fire test in fall 2025. This critical test will verify the performance of all engine components before any launch attempt.
The current iteration of the collegiate space race traces its roots to 2018, when nonprofit Base 11 initiated a challenge offering $1 million to the first student team to send a liquid-fuel rocket past the Kármán line by the end of 2021. The pandemic disrupted that timeline, ending the Base 11 competition. The mantle has since been taken up by Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR-Mars), which now offers a $50,000 prize to the first university to achieve the milestone. While KU’s team intends to compete for the prize, Gatza emphasized that the award is not their primary motivation.
Gatza’s leadership experience comes from serving as project manager for KUbeSat, a university program focused on designing and building cube satellites—compact spacecraft roughly the size of a loaf of bread. KUbeSat’s successful launch of KUbeSat-1 in July demonstrated the university’s growing capabilities in aerospace engineering. “Really, the ultimate goal is to make this as similar to what working in industry would be,” Gatza said. “To give students that experience before they graduate.”
To replicate the structure of professional aerospace companies, Gatza and Roach have organized the club into specialized teams, each with distinct responsibilities contributing to the larger mission. This structure not only distributes workload but also provides students with leadership opportunities. The approach has proven effective, with 40 to 50 members regularly attending meetings.
Among them is Waleed Khan, a third-year Ph.D. student leading the engine design team. Khan finds value in applying theoretical knowledge to practical engineering challenges. “I have the chance to really, you know, go a step further than just research and really apply those things that I’ve learned. And yeah, one of the things that I really enjoy besides being able to do that is just helping the younger students learn because I just really like teaching,” Khan said.
The club’s vision extends beyond engineering disciplines. Gatza noted the need for roles in scheduling, media outreach, and documentation of the rocket’s development process. “I could see anyone working on this,” Gatza said. “We want passionate people.”
To support their mission, Jayhawk Rocket Propulsion Design will launch a crowdfunding campaign running from October 28 through December 13. The funds will help advance Baby Jay’s development and sustain the club’s operations. Meetings are held twice monthly in the School of Engineering, with the next session scheduled for November 4.
