IREC 2016

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IREC2016 FRONT PAGE

This past week, the Yale Payload Rocket Team traveled to Green River, Utah to compete in the annual Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition. For the competition, the team built a rocket called Ziggy Stardust, which was actually launched once before, successfully, at Red Glare in Maryland. Ziggy was designed to carry a special biological payload: the team designed and constructed an air-sampling system that would sample and trap any microbes in the air at 10,000ft in a robust liquid impinger.

Post-launch search for Ziggy was successful!
Post-launch search for Ziggy was successful!


Ziggy launched successfully and the air-sampling system activated as intended. Afterwards, the team worked hard in processing the bacteria collected using a handmade, portable laminar flow-hood, a DIY PCR set-up, and patience.

UV-C lamp and sample with special dye.
UV-C lamp and sample with special dye.


Portable laminar flow hood used to evaluate the samples.
Portable laminar flow hood used to evaluate the samples.


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DIY PCR set-up with (from left to right) Gerardo Carranza '17 (co-president), Devin Cody '17 (co-president), and Brian Beitler '18 (team leader).
DIY PCR set-up with (from left to right) Gerardo Carranza ’17 (co-president), Devin Cody ’17 (co-president), and Brian Beitler ’18 (team leader).


The competition ended in success, as the team placed 2nd in the payload category out of 60+ teams from around the world.

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The competition ran from Wednesday, June 15 to Saturday June 18th.