Ohio Northern University National Competition Rockets

Founded in 2024, the ONU Rocketry Program currently has over 20 members from across Ohio and the Midwest United States. The team is comprised entirely of college students from Ohio Northern, a private NCAA Division 3 university, who are studying either engineering or computer science. We are a dedicated group of students aiming to build the best rocketry program to compete on the national level.

We compete in the Argonia Cup, which is a national rocketry competition with universities from across the country located in Argonia, Kansas. Last year, in our first year of competition, we placed 4th, only behind Kansas State, Colorado Boulder, and Purdue. This year, we have made numerous improvements to our rocket design and hope to build upon last year’s successes and failures.

Shown below is last year’s Argonia Cup submission video.

This year, we will be flying 54mm minimum diameter rockets, which brings in a new piece we must design and build, 1515 conforming rail guides. Per competition rules, we must use 1515 rail guides or buttons, but because our rockets are minimum diameter, we cannot drill a typical rail button without drilling into our motor. This leaves us with the option of designing our own rail guides that can be epoxyed to our rocket body.

Our team would greatly appreciate the help of PCBWay, as the demanding nature of flight and competition rules greatly reduces the usable materials and avenues of molding or machining. Therefore, we have decided that Aluminum 6061 has the best physical properties for our rail guides. Unfortunately, as a smaller university, we have a minimal budget to build our two rockets with, a backup and a main. Since we have two rockets, we are requesting ten custom CNC 1515 rail guides machined from Aluminum 6061. 

Shown below is the working prototype of our rail guides, which we 3D printed. 

PCBWay’s support would greatly assist us in our aim of building the best possible rockets and inspiring younger students to explore rocketry themselves.

In return, we, as the ONU Rocketry Program, will maintain contact with PCBWay throughout the design and building process and place your company name and logo on our competition rockets that will be flown in Argonia.

Thank you, and go Bears!

- The Ohio Northern University Rocketry Program