MASA Student Rocketry Team Receives Award for Resilience and Perseverance

Congratulations to the Michigan Aeronautical Science Association (MASA) student organization on being the recipients of the 2025 Fortitude Award, presented by the University of Michigan Engineering Center for Student Organizations. This award recognizes College of Engineering student organizations who have shown resilience and perseverance through tough challenges while upholding the values of the College.

Founded in 2003 as the University of Michigan’s amateur rocketry club, MASA has now grown to encompass students from a variety of majors and backgrounds who have a passion for “taking Michigan to new heights.” Students within the organization take a multidisciplinary approach to engineering, coming together to design, build and launch pioneering liquid-fueled rockets, and continually pushing the boundaries of collegiate rocketry.

In 2023, the MASA team launched the largest liquid bi-propellant rocket designed and built by any student team, Clementine. Clementine’s engine, RP-D2, was the most-powerful regeneratively cooled engine ever launched by a student team. The record breaking rocket stood over 20′ tall and was 10.5″ in diameter, making it the largest student-built rocket flown in the United States. Since Clementine’s launch, MASA has begun work on their next rocket, Limelight, which builds on the insights gained from Clementine and is designed to reach approximately 50,000 ft.

“This award means a great deal to MASA, as it reflects our resilience and dedication, qualities essential to engineering. Setbacks are inevitable, but it’s how we respond that defines us. We’re honored to have been selected as this year’s Fortitude Award recipients,” stated the MASA team upon receiving the award.

The MASA students were nominated for the Fortitude Award by a fellow student organization after overcoming a large hurdle the team faced over the summer of 2024, when their custom-built bi-propellant liquid engine, ME-5, suffered a major failure during testing. This caused the team to go back to the drawing board and lead to the development of their new Phoenix engine.

Cully Papin, the Marketing Director for the MASA team commented, “Even with that setback, the team rallied, working hard to get the project back on track with a new set of rigorous engineering practices. Since then, we’ve been moving full speed ahead and are now on track to launch our rocket, Limelight, the largest college-built liquid rocket ever.”

During the 2025 winter semester, the team successfully completed their coldflow campaign for the Phoenix engine and are currently gearing up for their upcoming hotfire test this May in the Mojave Desert. If all goes well for the team, they will be on track to launch Limelight in the Mojave Desert in January 2026.