SPONSORSHIP PACKAGE

Caltech’s Rocketry Team

Propulsion, Aeronautics, and Rocket Systems Engineering at Caltech

(PARSEC) is Caltech’s student run rocketry team. Founded in 2017, we

quickly grew to our current size of 30 members split among the 5

different subteams.

The students on the team have the opportunity to put knowledge

gained from the rigorous academics at Caltech to the test by

developing liquid propellant rockets for competitions and working on

other research projects. The team develops all components of a

complete rocket system: the metal 3D-printed rocket engine,

simulations to model the flight, the electronics to control the rocket,

and many other projects. The goals of the team are to supplement the

academics at Caltech with a more hands-on approach to learning and

to prepare the students to enter the industry, leaving them ready to

lead teams of engineers to tackle the challenges of the world.

has a rich history, going back to a

group of enthusiast students building rocket engines in the 1930s. After becoming too large

for tests to be conducted on campus, the group founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,

eventually leading to the development of the first satellite launched by the USA and joining

NASA as a federally funded research lab.

Rocketry at Caltech

driven by the same desire to develop something new and better. We are applying new

technologies—additive manufacturing, composite structures, and powerful on-board

computers—to the engineering of our rocket systems. Our team structure allows for

interdisciplinary thinking and peer teaching, helping ensure our projects are always improving

on the mistakes of the previous. Finally, in order to promote innovation and inspiration, we

are developing our first rocket for the FAR/Mars rocketry competition, a contest to build a

liquid methane and oxygen rocket from scratch to reach 45,000ft, an altitude matching that

of commercial airplane flights.

Today we follow in their footsteps,

Business

The Business subteam's mission is to be the bridge between PARSEC and the community.

On the media end, we are in charge of developing PARSEC's image through website

development, maintenance of a blog, community outreach, and overall creation of a face for

the rest of the PARSEC team. In addition, we raise funds and build connections to mentors in

academia and industry to connect other subteams within PARSEC to the resources and

knowledge they need.

-Megan Durney, Business Lead

Avionics

Avionics are the electronic systems that make

spacecraft and aircraft come alive. At PARSEC, the

Avionics subteam is responsible for the system

architecture, design, and manufacture of all electronic

controls and instrumentation used on the rocket and

test stand.

-Tyler Middleton and David Wu, Avionics Leads

Aeronautics

The Aeronautics subteam is responsible for packaging the other

subteams’ components in a way that ensures they collectively

move through the air efficiently, predictably, and reliably. We

have three working groups: Airframe Design, Flight Simulation,

and Braking and Recovery.

-Ben Cassese, Aeronautics Lead

Subteams

Software

The PARSEC Software Team has three main purposes: to

control rocket dynamics during flight, to efficiently run

tests of the rocket and its components, and to research

and develop advanced control algorithms for flight,

including self-landing rockets.

-Brendan Hollaway, Software Lead

Propulsion: Propellant

The Propellant subteam of the Propulsion team

is tasked with the transfer, storage, and safety

of all propellants. The team is in charge of de-

signing, sourcing, and building the systems to

transfer the fuel and oxidizer from their storage

tanks into the combustion chamber.

-Jack Caldwell, Propellant Lead

Propulsion: Injector

The Injector team is in charge of designing,

manufacturing, and testing the rocket engine

injector plate. We are currently developing a fully

3D-printable pintle injector plate for fast

manufacturing while allowing for new and

complex geometries to be used.

-Ricky Hamel, Injector Lead

Propulsion: Cooling and Chamber

The Chamber team is tasked with designing, analyzing, and

testing the geometry and the cooling processes of the engine.

Following a series of verification processes and post-processing,

the hardware will be integrated with the injector plate to be

tested with propellants, and eventually flown on the

competition rocket.

-Lewis Jones, Cooling Lead

Sponsorship Benefits PARSEC is a non-profit organization focused on building competition rockets and

conducting research. Because of our non-commercial business model, we rely entirely

on sponsorships and donations for funding our development efforts. In order to gather

funds and ensure the team’s success, sponsors of PARSEC are given different benefits

that scale with their donation amount. The funds are processed via Caltech and is tax-

free and tax-deductible.

Parsec

$20,000+

► Recruiting Event on Campus

► Mention in Publications/Articles

Light-Year

Up to $20,000

► Logo Placed Prominently on Competition Rockets

Astronomical Unit

Up to $5,000

► Logo on Team Shirts and Competition Rockets

Lunar Distance

$500 to $1,000

► Logo on Test Stand and Website

Contact Us

Primary Contact

Business Subteam Lead

Megan Durney

mdurney@caltech.edu

Alternate Contact

Team President

Lewis Jones

lcjones@caltech.edu

Mailing Address

California Institute of Technology

1200 E. California Blvd.

MSC 526

Pasadena, CA 91126