The Johns Hopkins University AstroJays Rocketry club earned second place at the 2025 Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) Unlimited Competition last weekend at the Mojave Air & Space Port at Rutan Field in Mojave, CA. This is the team’s best finish in the last three years.
The team’s supersonic, high-altitude rocket Stellaris reached an altitude of 17,943 feet, pulling 20 Gs on ascent. Stellaris, which was entirely student-engineered, went supersonic, reaching a speed of Mach 1.3, setting new altitude and speed records for the AstroJays team.
“Overall, this is the greatest accomplishment in team history,” said team member Ashwin Narayanan, a junior studying mechanical engineering. “Stellaris set new club altitude and speed records, as well as paved the way for future high-altitude flights now that we’ve proven we can construct an amateur rocket strong enough to withstand the powerful aerodynamic forces of supersonic speeds.”