Catastrophe leads to rocket team smashing previous altitude record

This past  March, the Illinois Space Society Spaceshot team traveled to the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site in the Mojave Desert and experienced what they call a CATO, or catastrophe on takeoff. Ashley Sawa knew immediately that it was a structures failure. As the structures lead, she assumed responsibility, helped the team members recover from the loss and go back to the desert in June to face the launch pad once again. In just three months, the team designed and built Aether II and smashed their former altitude record.

Aether II reached 75,124 feet, or 14.22 miles, soaring past last year’s record altitude of 44,165 feet or approximately 8.3 miles. Team lead Peter Giannetos said achieving new heights wasn’t the only accomplishment this year.

“We pushed more than one boundary as a team even if that meant learning through failure,” he said.  “Our success with staged vehicles is critical for optimizing toward higher altitudes and a multi-diameter vehicle with a transition section is an even further optimization that will unlock better flight profiles all around as we scale up. Our in-house electronics have enabled more reliable tracking, while our recovery system plays a key role in reducing volume and mass. And although altitude is our most visible achievement, it’s really a culmination of improvements across the board.”

So, how did the team recover from the devastating crash in March and go on to succeed beyond their expectations in June? Sawa described what happened and how the team changed their course.

“The vehicle was on its way up. We reached what’s called Max Q, or maximum dynamic pressure, where the aerodynamic loading is particularly harsh on the vehicle, and all the fins came off. The rocket shredded. We did a big field sweep and recovered most everything. Very little could be reused but the pieces would help in our post-failure investigative work.”

Sawa recalled returning to the hotel that night, meeting with the other leads to reassure everyone and restore hope.

“It was tough, but I knew exactly what went wrong and the next steps we needed to take. I also knew if we didn’t pursue it, it would really hurt the team.”

She said the alternative was to wait until next year, rebuild the same vehicle and try again in March, but that would mean the team would have been behind almost a year. Sawa worked to turn around the team’s story line from CATO to over 75K feet.

“I'm glad the team was willing to hear me out move forward. It wasn’t easy with funding concerns, material acquisition, and rebuild timelines. It was a huge group effort. We modified our fin design, which decreased the altitude we would have seen, but kept the vehicle safer and we improved our surface preparation and general manufacturing techniques. I'm just grateful Spaceshot had faith in me and my team to get us back where we needed to be and accomplish something major just a few months later.

“It's easy to put altitude up on a pedestal, and yes, we always want to be increasing altitude, but when you dig into everything the team accomplished, it's truly remarkable. Yes, we flew almost twice the number of feet we flew last year in competition. But there is so much more, like improving our manufacturing processes, flying custom electronics, and developing an in-house recovery reefing system, that made us grow last year.”

Sawa is this year’s Spaceshot team lead.

“This year, our team is looking to refine our systems and keep making strides towards an eventual Spaceshot attempt,” she said. “The structures team is focused on introducing a metal fin can and building our own launch rail to make sure that we are starting as straight and true as possible. We’re also refining our recovery system to be more robust and reliable and continuing work on our in-house altimeter, MIDAS. There’s a lot on the docket for us this year. We’re about 20 percent of the way to the Kármán line, so we've still got a ways to go.”

Giannetos reflected on his experience with the Illinois Space Society’s Spaceshot.

“As a computer engineer, I was drawn to aerospace because it’s one of the best places to apply what we learn,” Giannetos said. “Details can make or break a year’s worth of work in only 10 seconds, so it really encourages you to deep dive into the entire system and leave no stone unturned.

“I’ve been with Spaceshot for 15 launches. Aether II serves as an important reminder of our ability to always bounce back as a team but also as a long-term steppingstone for our program. It is proof that the team will continue push the boundaries of what students can achieve at Illinois. After four years, kind of like the ship of Theseus, Spaceshot is now a completely different team of people, but our purpose and spirit haven’t changed. As a departing member, it will be exciting to see how the team continues to evolve.”

Giannetos graduated in May ‘25 with a B.S. in computer engineering and a minor in Hoeft technology and management. While he was an undergrad, he interned at Rivian’s office at the University of Illinois’ Research Park. After graduation, he began working full time as a software engineer at Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies in Palo Alto, California.

“I credit my work in Illinois Space Society’s Spaceshot as being the leading factor for kick starting my early career,” he said. “At Rivian, I directly support our electrical team by writing the initial embedded software needed to bring prototype PCBs to life,” he said. “It’s fun to be hands-on in the lab, and to see how surprisingly similar it is to my work on Spaceshot. The core fundamentals are identical. It’s just the available resources and stakes that are different.”