Amrutur Anilkumar

The Vanderbilt rocket team captured its ninth payload design award at the 2025-2026 University Student Launch Initiative (USLI) competition conducted by the NASA Marshall Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA announced results on June 3, 2026 of the rocket challenge held in April at Bragg Farms… Read More

Rocket flight is in free fall after motor burn. Localization of fuel in a fuel tank fir auxiliary thruster ignition requires an ingenious design through rigorous testing. The following article reviews the design executed in the national award winning 2014 SLI flight in Salt Flats. Read More

Year 2025 brought both breakthroughs and setbacks as reusable launch vehicles moved toward routine service. SpaceX advanced Starship and Falcon 9, Blue Origin flew New Glenn and other U.S. companies progressed reusability efforts. Europe, China and Japan also made strides, emphasizing both the promise and challenges of moving beyond expendable… Read More

Dr. William Emfinger, a VADL Alumnus from the 2013-14, 2014-15 SLI teams, who mentors the design team on  electronics and control systems for the NASA competition has been appointed Principal Investigator and Chief Technology Officer for the ARPA-H funded RAAMP program  at the Assistive Technology Develpment Company ATDev. He is… Read More

The Vanderbilt Aerospace Design Laboratory (VADL) team attempted a very challenging payload deployment and landing sequence for the 2025 NASA University Student Launch Competition. The Vanderbilt team chose to replicate a space craft landing on an extraterrestrial body by jettisoning the payload and landing it upright. Read More