The idea behind this project is a good one: an undergraduate club wanted to teach rocket engineering by putting members through the full design-build-test cycle on a real vehicle, applying classroom subjects to challenges you only meet outside a lecture hall. Rocket Project at UCLA turned that idea into Ambition, a liquid-fueled rocket that flew to 22,000 feet.
The road there is what stands out to me. Members spent ten months designing and planning from home, working through online meetings and presentations. Simulation goals covered 1D, 2DOF and 3DOF flight models in MATLAB and Simulink, and their slides went into propulsion simulation, gas flow equations and lessons drawn from past vehicles Odyssey, Hyperion and Tranquility. Once the lab reopened in April 2021, hands-on work began: aluminum tubes machined on lathes and milling machines, fin components in carbon fiber or fiberglass, complex valve systems, and internal electronics wiring. Between April and summer they ran half a dozen cold flows and four hot fires, with the May 1, 2021 hot fire showing 760 lbf average and 900 lbf peak thrust while the team watched from a nearby bunker.
Launch day came on May 29, 2021 at a site signed for Friends of Amateur Rocketry. After a countdown the rocket climbed hard off the rail, hit Mach 1.3, came down in the desert and was carried back successfully. I also like the finish: a long silver body with a blue nose cone, and fins covered in handwritten signatures.
Two things remain open. The engine's cooling method, nozzle material and fuel type have not been shared, and the connection between the REACH marking on the fuselage and the Ambition name is unexplained. I hope both get answered.
Project by Rocket Project at UCLA. Watch it on their YouTube channel: