Rice Eclipse is Rice University’s student rocketry team. We develop rockets, rocket engines, avionics hardware, and avionics software to compete in the world’s largest intercollegiate rocketry competition, the Spaceport America Cup.
Over fifty years ago, President John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to shoot for the moon from Rice University’s very own Rice Stadium. Rice Eclipse keeps that spirit alive for the next generation of Rice University’s engineers. Started as a passion project by a handful of Rice students, Rice Eclipse has grown into the largest project-based engineering club on campus with over fifty members from diverse majors and backgrounds. Rice Eclipse is a team where any Rice student can learn the fundamentals of rocketry and engineering design, and has been the launchpad for many Rice students to enter the growing space industry. Our alumni can be found at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, SpaceX, Relativity Space, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and most other major aerospace companies.
Rocket science is expensive, and we rely on the generosity of our sponsors to continue our education, innovation, and outreach efforts. We offer several tiers of sponsorship, each with associated benefits, listed in detail in the sponsorship packet on our website: http://eclipse.rice.edu/support-us. If you chose, your sponsorship can be directed towards a specific Eclipse project, including these areas of greatest need:
- Aerodynamics: Support the development of our 2026 International Rocketry Engineering Competition (IREC) rocket, our fastest, highest-flying rocket yet. This rocket will fly to 100K ft at supersonic speeds and be a stepping stone towards a space shot rocket!
- Avionics: Sponsor the creation of our Active Fin Stabilization (AFS) system, which will aid the performance of our spaceshot rocket by overcoming significant aerodynamic forces. Additionally, we will continue to build cutting edge data acquisition systems and flight computers for the team’s rockets and rocket engines.
- Propulsion: Help realize our goals in building and hot firing our first liquid engine and the continuation of the Titan series, Titan III. For two years in a row, the Titan engines have powered our award winning rockets at IREC.
Please leave a note in the “Special Instructions” field if you would like to support a specific project. In addition, a $100 donation allows us to fully sponsor a Rice student to get a high-powered rocketry certification through our partners at the Tripoli Rocketry Association’s Houston chapter. This certification is the first step for many Rice students into high-performance aerospace engineering projects.
If you are interested in discussing how you can make a more significant impact on Rice Eclipse through your current or long-term philanthropy, or to make a gift through appreciated securities, wire transfer, Donor Advised Fund (DAF), IRA Charitable Rollover, or through a deferred gift vehicle such as a bequest, please contact Katie Donovan at (713) 348-4612 or katiedonovan@rice.edu or Sara L. Rice, Executive Director of Development for Schools, at slrice@rice.edu or 713-348-3189.