Illinois Tech MMAE

Big Red 3 is a 4-inch diameter dual-stage rocket developed by Illinois Tech Rocketry's R&D team to push the limits of the team's high-altitude dual-stage capabilities while serving as a platform for new structural, avionics, telemetry, and aerodynamic improvements.

On June 6, 2026, Big Red 3 successfully reached 41,788 ft at 1,695 fps, becoming the highest and fastest rocket in club history and marking only the second successful dual-stage flight in club history.

With a target altitude of 50,000 ft, Big Red 3 aimed to nearly double the performance of Big Red 1 (the team's first dual-stage rocket back in 2023), while using smaller motors and retaining a similar 4-inch diameter design. To achieve this, the team incorporated major improvements in structures, avionics, telemetry, and aerodynamics developed through projects such as Big Red 2, Centennial, and Pioneer 1.

The lessons learned from this project will continue to guide future vehicles, including Pioneer 2 and the next generation of high-altitude dual-stage rockets. Congratulations to Illinois Tech Rocketry Team!

Thank you everyone for your active participation in the Poster Competition today. Below are the winners as well as the recipients of departmental awards for 2026. The group photo is attached. Congratulations!

2026 MMAE Department Awards
Distinguished Alumni Award – Dr. Michael Plesniak
Excellence in Teaching Award – Dr. John Bernhardt
Excellence in Research Award – Dr. Carrie Hall and Dr. Leon Shaw
Outstanding Service Award – Lina Diaz
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award – Jonathan Horak
Outstanding Research Assistant Award – Sasindu Pinto and Junquan Ou

2026 MMAE Student Research Poster Competition
(1 place = $250, 2 place = $200, 3 place = $150)

Undergraduate category
Third place – Joo-Yeol Yoon, “Safe Autonomous Landing of a Mars Quadcopter,” advisor Dr. Ersin Das
Second place – Emiliano Mora, “Small Drones, Large Impact,” advisor Dr. Nelson Rosa
First place – Alec Weedman, “Reflected Signals, Revealed Surfaces: Using GNSS-IR Spectral Peaks to Decode Polar Terrain,” advisor Dr. Seebany Datta-Barua

Master’s category
First place – Jinchen Tang, “Demystifying the Fine Structure of a Heusler Phase Intermetallic Semiconductor: Mn2CoAl,” advisor Dr. Heng Wang

PhD category
Third place – Prashanth Tamilselvam, “Universal Scaling Relationship for the Frequency of Human Whistling,” advisor Dr. Francisco Ruiz
Second place – Adwoa Adunyah, “A Degradation Aware Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy for Fuel Cell Hybrid Electric Vehicles,” Dr. Carrie Hall
First place – Oluwaseyi Omodara, “Multi-Mechanism Powder Spreader for Powder-Bed AM: Experimental and DEM Investigation of Non-Spherical Powder Spreading,” advisor Dr. Amir Mostafaei

The recipient of the AIAA Scholastic Achievement Award in 2025-2026 academic year is Anna Elena Sofia Sebastio.

Research in the use of air for flight control of a tailless aircraft (by Professor Emeritus David Williams and Undergraduates at Illinois Institute of Technology, as well as NASA) helped to pave the way for the production of the X-65 by DARPA! Read on:

Air jets under pressure Share LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Email With its X-65 demonstrator, DARPA aims to test whether today’s control surfaces can be replaced. Paul Marks spoke to the program leads about the design and forthcoming flight tests. For over a century, aircraft pitch, yaw and roll control has been provided by ...