As they gear up for launch in 2026, students on Michigan Engineering’s rocketry project team headed to California to test an engine designed and built from scratch.
On a sunny afternoon in the Mojave Desert, twenty-one U-M students screamed and cheered in celebration as two years of hard work culminated in a roar of flame firing correctly through their engine—the most powerful regeneratively cooled rocket engine ever produced by a collegiate team.
Aiming to break their previous record for the largest student-built liquid-fuel rocket, the Michigan Aeronautical Science Association (MASA) is now completing the final steps before they launch their newest rocket, called Limelight.
This event, called a hotfire, was MASA’s final major engineering milestone before launch. Over the course of a week, the team tested Limelight’s engine igniting and running at full power—enough power to propel a rocket roughly two stories tall over 50,000 feet up into the atmosphere.
“Hotfire is the product of the dedication and love of every single team member,” said Margo Katz, MASA’s incoming president for the 2025-26 academic year. “It is a truly technical and interpersonal feat, requiring hypothetical and practical knowledge, communication, and teamwork.”
Leading up to the hotfire trip, MASA conducted engine and ground support equipment tests, called coldflows, in Ann Arbor. To ensure the safety of all involved, the team used non-flammable propellants that approximate the properties of the real fuel components. However, for this hotfire, the team headed out to a test facility in the remote Mojave Desert, and used liquid oxygen and a refined petroleum fuel called RP-1 to test the engine as if at launch.
Katz described her experience at the hotfire as personally transformative, and one of her most memorable moments at Michigan.
“Tearing my gaze from the firing engine to see the reactions of the team is a memory that I will cherish forever,” Katz said. “I saw complete enrapture, elation and awe.”
According to Chris Gordon, director of the Wilson Student Team Project Center, MASA—one of Michigan Engineering’s 31 student project teams—has made so much progress in recent years that it now stands out as being in its own league.
Previously, MASA was the first team at the Spaceport America Cup to launch and recover a liquid bipropellant rocket, receiving the highest score in the hybrid/liquid rocket category. Their last mission before Limelight—named Clementine—set the record for the largest liquid-fuel rocket designed and built by a collegiate student team.
“Today they’re basically a mini-NASA,” Gordon said. “They’ve outgrown all the college competitions and are pretty much in a category of their own.”
“Today they’re basically a mini-NASA. They’ve outgrown all the college competitions and are pretty much in a category of their own.”
Chris Gordon, Director of the Wilson Student Team Project Center.
For Limelight, MASA is setting its sights even higher, aiming to break their previous record by building the largest and most powerful rocket the team has ever worked on. At launch, standing over 23 feet tall, Limelight will reach speeds of over a thousand miles per hour—breaking the sound barrier.
“It’s an evolution, a perfection, of everything we started to work towards on our last project,” said Kabir Bhatia, the current president of MASA. “We’ve come up with a much more refined, more advanced rocket that has allowed our members to gain super cool hands-on experience with this technology.”
Bhatia is a rising senior from Palo Alto, California, pursuing an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering. Before joining MASA, he had never done rocketry or any aerospace-related work. However, in the last three years, he’s gained experience with MASA serving as a structural engineer, an airframe lead, and the director of manufacturing. This past year, as president, he provided leadership for the entire team, with a hand in everything—from preliminary rocket design, to travel coordination for large-scale testing like the hotfire.
Bhatia’s experience learning on the job isn’t unusual at MASA, as no prior experience is required to join the team. Students choose subteams—such as propulsion, software, or avionics—and are trained in the necessary technical skills as they start participating in subteam work.
In addition to technical knowledge, students in MASA gain hands-on experience with concepts from their academic programs, and build key skills such as systems thinking. “You learn how to work in a really complicated system and with a large number of people, and ensure it all comes together, since the project as a whole is so complicated and multifaceted,” said Bhatia.
Last year, the team experienced a setback during hotfire when their previous engine hardstarted, a technical term referring to an explosion caused by pressure buildup, triggered in this case by an ignition malfunction. But the team rallied, redesigning and developing a new model—called Phoenix—with a far more robust ignitor design. Phoenix also uses regenerative cooling (a method of circulating fuel through the engine’s walls before use) which has significantly improved engine efficiency.
“That setback made us a lot more resilient as a team,” Bhatia said. “I’m super proud of the way that we came together and didn’t allow this to lower morale, or reduce everyone’s work towards the goal.”
Katz, also highlighted community as a deeply important part of her experience with the team. “MASA is a network of people that will push you towards your best self,” Katz said. “My favorite part of the hotfire trip was watching the team blossom.”
Similar to Bhatia, Katz—originally from Branford, Connecticut—joined MASA without prior experience in rocketry. Now a rising junior, she is pursuing an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering. Katz previously served as MASA’s marketing director and is a dedicated member of the assembly, test and launch operations (ATLO) subteam.
On ATLO, Katz works with other teammates to design and build the ground support equipment required for testing, integrate the rocket fluids systems, and safely execute testing procedures. Additionally, as a member of the executive board, she plays a key role in organizing hotfire and launch.
At the hotfire, lasting over a period of twenty-two seconds, the Phoenix engine outperformed the team’s expectations—reaching nearly 3,000 pounds of sustained thrust. Combined with extensive data collection throughout the testing, this success gives MASA the confidence to proceed with the Limelight mission.
Looking ahead, the next steps involve building the rocket’s structure, integrating critical electrical and plumbing systems, and finalizing ground equipment. Launch is scheduled for January 2026, and will again take place in the Mojave Desert.
For MASA, missions like Limelight usually take at least two years from first design to final landing. Seniors who are currently on the team may graduate more than a year before launch, but they often come back to the Mojave Desert as alumni to see their work realized in the final iteration of the rocket. Current students on the team drive out together from Michigan across the U.S., bringing the rocket in pieces and assembling it at the launch site.
“To watch all of the hard work of students, current and past, blaze to life was an honor and a privilege,” Katz said. “That feeling of togetherness, brought on through the culmination of years of teamwork, will bond me to this crew for life.”
Story by: Katja Foreman-Braunschweig