Our Story:
After years of dedicated research and development, we are thrilled to introduce Riptide, our first self-landing rocket competing to become the first vehicle in the Collegiate Propulsive Lander Challenge to fly autonomously. This cutting-edge project represents the culmination of our team's expertise and innovation, building upon our legacy of firsts in the field of aerospace technology.
However, as we bring Riptide from blueprint to reality, we face a critical challenge: funding. We need your support to complete essential stages of our project:
- Cold flows: To verify our systems and ensure safety
- Static fires: To test and optimize our engine performance
- Tethered flight: To test Riptide’s autonomous control capabilities and compete for records
- Hop test: To achieve a fully autonomous flight and become the first self-landing, reusable rocket in the lander challenge
Each test and flight attempt requires significant resources. Our dedicated members have immensely contributed and efficiently utlilized available resources, but we've reached a point where we need additional support to move forward. Your contributions will directly fund these crucial steps, advancing our mission to launch Riptide and break collegiate records with a self-landing, next generation rocket.
By supporting our campaign, you're investing in the future of aerospace innovation and empowering the next generation of space industry leaders. Every contribution, no matter the size, brings us one step closer to making this project count.
Help us turn this dream into reality. Share our campaign, contribute if you can, and be part of this exciting journey to push the boundaries of collegiate rocketry. Thank you for fueling student dreams and the future of space exploration!
About Riptide:
Riptide is a fifteen-foot, 1300lb, LOX and LNG self-landing rocket that takes inspiration from the advancements of SpaceX, Intuitive Machines, and Masten Space Systems to push the boundaries of aerospace engineering at a collegiate level. Competing in the Definity Project’s Lander Challenge, it aims to reach 200ft in altitude and land within a 32ft diameter circle fully autonomously. Riptide has also won project of the year at SEDS SpaceVision 2023.
About Us:
SEDS at UC San Diego is a platform dedicated to developing the next generation of aerospace technology by empowering students to work on industry-level projects at a collegiate level. We aim to make liquid rocketry accessible to all while cultivating engineers capable of driving the future of space development.
As a catalyst for change, SEDS at UC San Diego believes that empowering students to unite and become game changers for space development is critical to cultivating the next generation of engineers. Through hands-on design, testing, and iteration, our members gain invaluable experience while pushing the boundaries of what is possible at the collegiate level.
Our organization has demonstrated a legacy of firsts: the first additively manufactured rocket engine to be hot-fired (Tri-D), and to be flown (Ignus I). We have been recognized by industry leaders and by our community for our contributions, including winning project of the year at the SpaceVision 2017 conference and placing 3rd in the NASA CubeQuest competition. Building on this foundation, SEDS at UC San Diego now seeks to add another milestone by becoming the first collegiate organization to develop and fly a self-landing rocket.
