At the Velásquez Aerodrome in Puerto Boyacá, in the department de Boyacá, with the support of the Air Combat Command No.1, the academic exercise of the launch of five rockets was carried out by the University of Antioquia, the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana and the School of Engineers in Antioquia; these are projects endorsed by the Colombian Air Force.
After several months of study, research and private investment and private industry conducted by the 43 students of the three universities, with much perpetration and effort, they materialized these projects and bring them to reality by launching the rockets.
Under the supervision and leadership of David Pineda, professor and co-founder of the Aerospace Engineering program at the University of Antioquia and professor of Rocket and Satellite Engineering at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, students, belonging to aeronautical, aerospace, mechanical, materials engineering and mechatronics, jointly carried out the design and manufacturing projects of rocket prototypes with different types of recovery: gyrocopter, parachute, paragliding and with pumps and damping; which carried loads, such as CanSat satellites.
These rockets were supervised and controlled by qualified personnel of the Office of Aerospace Affairs, as well as Health and Safety at Work. They provided the necessary measures for these rocket prototypes made of the academy, and that are an added cost for development Aerospace of the country, by highlighting the need to continue conducting research and development, for aerospace engineering in the Nation.
In these exercises, the projects were designed to collect different data: measuring atmospheric variables such as height, humidity, pressure, with gas sensor, simulation of the cooling of the atmosphere by salt, among others.
The teamwork carried out in different research areas of the Colombian Air Force, such as the Aerospace Technologies Research Center, CITAE, the Aerospace Technology Development Center for Defense, CETAD, and the Colombian air force postgraduate school, EPFAC, provided the spaces and knowledge necessary for academic synergy with the universities of Antioquia to carry out the launch of the rockets by the students.
Source: Colombian Air Force
