Liberty Rocketry

I am beyond ecstatic to share that my research in design optimization of active-stability rocket canards has been accepted to the ICEAF - International Conference of Engineering Against Failure in Kalamata, Greece this July where I will be giving a 20-minute oral presentation of my research! This is such an incredible opportunity and one that would not have been possible without the amazing group of people supporting this project. Huge thank you to my advisors Dr. Howie Fang and Chris Jaus for their guidance during the research process, and to the amazing members of Liberty Rocketry's research team Sam W., Zizai Liu, Evan Carmello, Judah Finley, and Robert Rivera for their dedication and continuous support of this research. And of course, shout out to all my hard-working friends at Liberty Rocketry who are all dedicated to making our team one of the very best student rocketry teams in the world!

Thank you North Georgia Truss Systems, LLC for becoming a Silver Sponsor of Liberty Rocketry!

Manufacturing of the Trinity rocket has officially begun for the IREC 2025 competition! ??

We are excited to announce that our talented research program led by Simon Babcock and comprised of Sam W., Evan Carmello, Zizai Liu, Judah Finley, and Robert Rivera has begun a new innovative project applying multi-variable design optimization to a high-powered rocket system! With very little research and publication in this area, our team will be the first to spectrally optimize multiple components of a sounding rocket in conjunction with each other to refine apogee uniformity and prediction! The team will publish this research next semester, becoming the only competition team in Liberty University's School of Engineering to produce a scientific publication and initiating a series of research projects in future years! Huge thank you to the team's graduate advisors Chris Jaus and Daniel Hembree for enabling this opportunity for us!

Last Friday, Liberty Rocketry leadership delivered our Final Design Review to our faculty advisor Dr. Ola-lekan Shobayo and our competition team director Steven Mason! With over three months of detailed research, design, and hard work behind us, we are concluding the design phase of the Trinity rocket and will begin manufacturing in the spring! ?? Huge thank you to our 50+ team members for your dedication to the Liberty Rocketry mission and huge shout out to our leadership Simon Babcock, Price Drawdy, Luke Krick, Rachel Phillips, Johnny Sugarman, Derek Works, and Sam W. for making this project possible! ?? #IREC #IREC2025 #ESRA #STEM #Rocketry #SpaceX #BlueOrigin #LocheedMartin

And we're in! Liberty Rocketry is going to the International Rocket Engineering Competition! ??

We are now halfway through the semester and Liberty Rocketry is taking off! ?? In addition to opening Liberty University's student convocation and showcasing the team's extraordinary success in front of over 15,000 students, we also had the extraordinary privilege of carrying both Genesis and Waymaker in our university's homecoming parade! ?? Our team is now comprised of almost 60 undergraduates students from six different majors and areas of study, making us the largest engineering competition team in the Liberty University School of Engineering! ?? The final design of Trinity will soon be solidified, as we continue building our third world-class rocket! Spaceport America Cup 2025, here we come! ?? #STEM #SpaceportAmerica #SpaceportAmericaCup #SpaceportAmericaCup2025 #rocketry #IREC #ProjectTrinity #ESRA #IREC2025

On September 4th Liberty Rocketry's second project, WAYMAKER, was brought to a spectacular close! Following the team's spectacular performance at the Spaceport America Cup Liberty University's President, Dondi E. Costin, Ph.D. (Major General, Retired), recognized our team in front of thousands of Students at Convocation. As the Chief Engineer and team leader of the WAYMAKER project, I couldn’t be prouder of our team’s unrelenting dedication, hard work, and unwavering faith. It was truly and honor, privilege, and blessing to get to serve you. A huge thank you to our faculty advisor, Tate Fonville PhD, and our mentor, Mark Miller, for their invaluable guidance. This recognition is not just about our achievements, but also about the support from the School of Engineering and the entire Liberty University community. Together, we are pushing the boundaries of engineering and glorifying God through our work. I can't begin to explain how excited I am to see where God takes us next! Thank you Liberty University and thank you Dr. Costin!

Calling all engineers, rocket enthusiasts, and innocent bystanders! Liberty Rocketry will be holding an open-house at the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre on Sunday, August 25th from 2pm to 5pm to kick off the 2024-2025 competition season! This invitation is open to all interested Liberty University students - you don't even have to be an engineer to attend! We have open positions not only in engineering, simulations, and computer science, but also in web development, graphic design, digital media, and so much more! If any of these roles interest you, come on out to our 2024 Kick-Off Rally and join Liberty's fastest competition team! #SpaceportAmerica #SpaceportAmericaCup #SpaceportAmericaCup2025 #Rocketry #Snowflex #STEM