About Us
The Mission
Founded in 2015, the McGill Rocket Team is a student-run design team that builds and launches sounding rockets. We give students an opportunity to work on exciting aerospace projects and obtain invaluable hands-on experience in engineering and management.
By building our own rockets and participating extensively in outreach events, we strive to educate about rocketry and promote the aerospace industry. Notable events we participate in include McGill recruitment events, the Montreal Space Symposium, and events that promote women in STEM.
Students who join the team may engage in many different fields which include composites and structures, fluids, and electronics.
Competitions
Launch Canada
Launch Canada is an annual competition held in Timmins, Ontario, on Mattagami First Nation territory. It brings together student rocketry teams from across the country to fly their rockets and take part in Canada's growing university rocketry community.
MRT has attended every Launch Canada since the inaugural competition. For our team, the event is the culmination of the annual design cycle and the goal that guides our work throughout the year. Each design decision, test, and day in the workshop moves us closer to arriving in Timmins with a rocket ready to fly.
The competition gives us the opportunity to put the full scope of that work on display. Our members can see the systems they developed come together on the launch pad, demonstrate the team's engineering to judges and industry members, and exchange knowledge with other student teams. What we learn in Timmins shapes the work that begins as soon as we return to Montreal.
Results:
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Launch Canada 2025: 3rd Place (Advanced Category)
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Launch Canada 2026: 3rd Place (Advanced Category)
Spaceport America Cup
Spaceport America Cup (SAC) is the world's premier university-level aerospace engineering competition, held annually in June. It is focused on the design of rockets and associated systems, featuring presentation events in addition to rocket launches. The McGill Rocket Team eagerly looks forward to competing at SAC each year with the gracious help of its sponsors.
The McGill Rocket Team's most notable year at SAC was in 2018, when it became the second team ever to bring home the Genesis Cup. The team entered the competition with a 10,000 ft COTS rocket named Blanche, which launched nominally and was successfully recovered in the New Mexico desert. Blanche featured 50 student-designed components among its 53 major parts.
Since Blanche, the team has been improving its designs and intends to compete with its first student-developed hybrid rocket engine at SAC 2022. With improved reliability across the board and a minimal number of off-the-shelf components to save costs and improve integration, the next rocket will be a testament to the team’s experience and drive.
Results:
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IREC 2015: 32nd / 44 10K COTS
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IREC 2016: 29th / 45 10K COTS
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SAC 2017: 3rd / 63 30K COTS
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SAC 2018: 1st Overall
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SAC 2019: 4th / 19 30K COTS
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Virtual SAC 2021: 8th Overall
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SAC 2022: 2nd 10K Hybrid SRAD
Learn More
All Posts
4/3/2026
Our new a bench-scale rocket engine was developed to generate rapid and scalable data. This capstone aimed to design a portable, modular test stand adapted to these engines.
8/16/2025
The second iteration, new and improved version of our SRAD hybrid rocket.
8/14/2024
Project Thorondor will be the McGill Rocket Team's second ever hybrid engine rocket launch! Its goal is to carry forward the systems engineering successes from last year's project, perfect the elements that are being reused from last year, and develop new systems that can be used aboard future projects.
Meet the Team
