STAR: Space Technologies and Rocketry

Hey friends! Please consider donating to our project this year, we’re working hard to make our rockets a reality, and we need all the funds we can use!

Howdy! First of all, we would like to thank all the donors who helped us reach (as of now) 72% of our goal for this year's crowdfunding! However, it is not over yet . We still have 28% of our goal that we can meet with YOUR help. Even a dollar brings us one step closer to our goal! Please follow the link at the bottom for more information.... https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/22556

Not even a worldwide pandemic can stop us from reaching the stars! Space Technologies and Rocketry is Berkeley' s student-led competitive rocketry team made up of brilliant minded students united with our passion for aerospace engineering. Help us achieve our goal by donating to our crowdfunding campaign!... https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/22556

Hello everyone! Thanks for showing up to our first information session yesterday! We were thrilled to see the faces of our potential prospective students If you weren't able to make it yesterday, there are more informations in the upcoming week that you can attend! Please check the events page for more detail.... Here's a short video on STAR and what we're all about! For more information, please check out our website stars.berkeley.edu or email us at [email protected] ! Alternatively, come join us at one of our infosessions! - Session 1 (8/31, 7-8pm PDT): https://www.facebook.com/events/3399787876746717 - Session 2 (9/7, 7-8pm PDT): https://www.facebook.com/events/962098460962892 - Session 3 (9/8, 7-8pm PDT): https://www.facebook.com/events/665961814271535

Hi! I’m Christina and I'm a first year graduate student in Mechanical Engineering. I’ve been in STAR for three years and was the lead for the Airframe Subteam last year. Since I am now a grad student, I'll primarily hang out at airframe meetings and General Meetings for fun! I've been sleeping a ton this summer in addition to spending a lot of time on my research. I also had backyard chickens that I hung out with a ton until they got too old and stopped enjoying my company. ... STAR taught me everything I know about rocketry. I learned how to use a lot of tools during airframe build days, how to be patient during stressful times through LOTS of hands-on experience. My favorite memory was working on an emergency rebuild of Arktos at the RFS at 3 AM on a school night. It was rough in the moment, but looking back at it I loved everything about that day. I've made many great friends through this club and they are a big reason why I keep coming back every year. The thing is, you will get out as much as you put into the club. Feel free to ask the leads (and others!) many questions so you can learn enough to be able to do work. There’s no such thing as a dumb question and I’m sure that each member would happily talk about the club with you.

Hi! I’m Michael! I’m a rising junior majoring in mechanical engineering with a concentration in aerospace and I spent this summer interning at Jane Street and biking. I’ve been in STAR since my freshman year and I started off working in the Propulsion team. I was the lead of Propulsion for about a year and now I’m working on aerostructures for our new payload project, DAVE, which will be a rocket-deployed glider capable of carrying a scientific payload. ... I’ve definitely gained a lot of hands-on engineering experience through STAR. It's a great supplement to the more theoretical classes. I especially think I've learned a lot about how to work in the setting of an engineering team, how to more effectively manage projects, and how to support people in their projects from a leadership position. My favorite memory was actually when we stayed in the Richmond Field Station - at our warehouse - until 1 am building a mounting structure for some liquid engine tests. Nobody comes into college knowing much about rockets, and we're all here to learn, have a good time, and become better engineers. I’d definitely recommend incoming students to try it out and don't be afraid to ask questions!

Hi! I’m Celeste. I’m a rising third year pursuing a degree in Genetics and Plant Biology. This will be my third year with the Airframe Subteam where my main responsibilities revolve around the development and execution of fabrication techniques with respect to the booster section of our rockets. While I did have some engineering experience leftover from high school, STAR was the first place I was able to put those fairly introductory skills to work in a more formal environme...nt. Within my time at STAR, we’ve attracted a diverse group of talented womxn from a great variety of backgrounds and career interests within STEM and even beyond. It was heartening to see our numbers increase despite operating within a traditionally male-dominated hobby, and I always look forward to our interactions. I joined STAR on a whim during my freshman year. Despite the unconventional major/club combination, I have NEVER held any regrets over the countless hours I've spent working with its members. Skills such as collaboration, communication, versatility, and dedication are fairly universal across all areas of study here at Cal. I’m grateful that STAR has granted me the space to hone these skills in preparation for my chosen career field.

Hi I’m Dylan! I'm a Sophomore majoring in Materials Science and Engineering/Mechanical Engineering. I’ve been in STAR for a full year working on designing the feed system and the blast shield for our second engine testing purposes as a member of the propulsion team. ... This Summer I've been taking two classes and started a research position in the BAM lab focusing on fluidic thrust vectoring of microrockets. STAR is one of the few avenues that provide UC Berkeley students experience in aerospace engineering. Through STAR, I was able to gain hands-on experiences such as visualizing, designing and creating actual products, as well as learning rules and principles of engineering that I would never learn in a normal classroom setting. One of my favorite memories of STAR was probably going to launch and seeing an actual rocket fly. The general community and atmosphere of the club is definitely what really makes the meetings, build days, and socials fun even when you have to spend an hour and a half drilling holes through a quarter inch of steel.

Hi! I’m Priyan! I’m a rising senior, majoring in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research (IEOR) and I am the Vice President for the upcoming academic year. I’m currently an Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Intern at Boeing! I've spent the past summer building data models to better predict the lifecycle of tools in Boeing factories, and how we can use data about these tools to a) better stock tools and b) give Boeing a purchasing advantage when it comes time t...o purchase tools STAR has given me immense experience collaborating with a team under the time, money, and logistics stresses of an industry engineering team. It's also provided me with the aerospace experiences necessary to differentiate myself from other aerospace candidates in my major. The community I've found in this club has been absolutely irreplaceable. I've found my best friends and my closest colleagues through this organization, and I look forward every year to broadening that community with every new class of new members. I believe STAR is unique in that we balance our desire to compete against other capable teams across the country, with our personal desire to just make stuff that inspires ourselves, the combination makes this club a hub of great ideas and determined people.

STAR at Berkeley Crowdfund live today! Donate at https://tinyurl.com/STARatBerkeley, and get awesome perks today!

Avionics Lead Neelay Junnarkar is shown here testing our radio communication antenna between the Lawrence Berkeley Hall of Science and the MLK Student Union! Support projects like these, and donate today to keep CalSTAR flying at https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/16510!