2023 – aen groo zwayzoo

Our 2022-23 season was one for the record books! Not only did we successfully complete the design and build-from-scratch competition, but we went on to place first overall, with the highest points total of all teams in the competition.

Team members included:
Eric Birchall, Mechanical Engineering (Ulkatcho First Nation)
Cameron Bishop, Computer Engineering (Métis Nation of Alberta)
Justice Bressette-Fleming, Electrical Engineering (Kettle and Stony Point FN)
Tyler Cowie, Electrical Engineering (Hiawatha First Nation)
Curtis Dewasha, Mining Engineering (Wahta Mohawks)
Madeleine Duncan, Geological Engineering (Curve Lake First Nation)
Kayla Horswood, Mining Engineering (Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug)
Sidney Mamakwa, Mining Engineering (Wunnumin Lake First Nation)
Cohen Shipp-Wiedersprecher, Mechanical Engineering (Six Nations – Mohawk)
Connor Sparks, Heath Science (Métis Nation of Ontario)
Melanie Howard, Advisor (Mohawks of Kanehsatake)

Our 2023 competition rocket was named aen groo zwayzoo, and its body was fabricated largely from from fiberglass cloth and resin. It flew as part of the Mars Challenge portion of the First Nations Launch competition in April 2023, which led to our team being named overall International Grand Champions, with the highest points total of any team in the competition.

As part of our prize-winning effort, we were invited to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where we witnessed the launch of Crew-7 to the International Space Center on August 26, 2023. Prior to this, we also enjoyed a day-long VIP tour of the facility during active launch countdown.

2022 – Waawaate

Our 2021-22 season began with the hope that travel to the USA would be possible by the time our competition rolled around! We held all meetings online, and the first full-team in-person meeting was at our February 2022 team photo, above. Team members included:

Madeleine Duncan, Geological Engineering (Curve Lake First Nation)
Justice Bressette-Fleming, Electrical Engineering (Kettle and Stony Point FN)
Tyler Cowie, Electrical Engineering (Hiawatha First Nation)
Cameron Bishop, Computer Engineering (Métis Nation of Alberta)
Jeff McCaw, Electrical Engineering (Métis Nation of Ontario)
Sidney Mamakwa, Mining Engineering (Wunnumin Lake First Nation)
Maranda Cherry, Engineering Physics (Métis Nation of BC)
Rylen Crowe, Electrical Engineering (Sandy Lake First Nation)
Cohen Shipp-Wiedersprecher, Mechanical Engineering (Six Nations – Mohawk)
Melanie Howard, Advisor and team photo photographer (Kanehsatake)

Our 2022 competition rocket was named Waawaate, and it was the first we have launched on our own. A culmination of three years of work for longstanding team members Maranda and Cam! Our challenge for Waawaate was to design and build a cold-gas thruster system, which would rotate the rocket on a Z-axis after motor burnout, and slow that rotation down before apogee of flight (a 6 second window!) We placed second overall, finishing just 4 points behind the winner, Northern Arizona University. Our team brought home awards for top report writing, second in presentations, the Frank Nobile Award in Communications, and the Judges Award.

2021 team member John Sekijoba (at left) joined us for launch weekend, as not all 2022 team members were able to travel during exams.

2021: Kanatakon’ha 2.0

The 2020-2021 season was TRULY the year of dancing around COVID-19 restrictions and regulations. The team met entirely virtually until construction in April, and at no point ever got together as a group as we were not permitted to be more than three students continuously supervised by one advisor during any time working on the rocket! Our team photo as a Zoom call is peak 2021. Team members were:

Maranda Cherry, Engineering Physics (Métis Nation of BC)
Melanie Howard, Advisor (Mohawks of Kanehsatake)
Jeff McCaw, Electrical Engineering (Métis Nation of Ontario)
Spencer Bundy, General Engineering (M’ikmaq Nation)
Tyler Cowie, Electrical Engineering (Métis Nation of Ontario)
Eric Birchall, Mechanical Engineering (Ulkatcho First Nation)
John Sekijoba, Mechanical Engineering (Buganda Kingdom)
Cameron Bishop, Computer Engineering (Métis Nation of Alberta)

The First Nations Launch competition was held virtually, with launches to take afterwards, local to the colleges and universities under the supervision of at least one judge or liaison from FNL. As we could not launch our rocket in Canada due to range restrictions and closures, we coordinated with University of California Davis on a proxy launch of our rocket. Over the course of a 5-hour Zoom call, the team from UC Davis followed our instructions to launch Kanatakon’ha 2.0/21, with its payload challenge of a scheduled flight anomaly onboard. We placed second overall to UC Davis!

2020: Kanatakon’ha

Our first year competing in First Nations Launch was 2019-2020. The team was comprised of six engineering students:

Reid McGaeghan, Mechanical Engineering (Métis Nation of Ontario)
Maranda Cherry, Engineering Physics (Métis Nation of BC)
Nathaniel Pauze, Computer Engineering (Métis Nation of Ontario)
Danis Thomson, Civil Engineering (Constance Lake First Nation)
Cameron Bishop, Computer Engineering (Métis Nation of Alberta)
Kathryn Instrum, Applied Mathematics and Engineering (eastern métis)
Melanie Howard, Advisor not pictured (Mohawks of Kanehsatake)

The team did really well in its reporting and presentations, and was in the lead following the critical design review. The competition was delayed in March 2020 and ultimately closed in September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on travel, so launch never took place.