Thunderbird Aerospace

Thunderbird Aerospace is an Indigenous engineering design team at the University of British Columbia's Point Grey campus that develops and tests liquid rockets. As part of our commitment to indigenizing aerospace, we accept members from all backgrounds. Reconciliation is an increasingly marketable skill due to Indigenous institutions receiving greater formal recognition. To ensure our position at the cutting edge remains sharp, we continuously improve a careful orchestration of innovation and proven technologies. The design of the process is as important as the design of the rocket. Without an optimal design process there is no optimal result. Since the invention of napkins and whiteboards they have been the most valuable tool in the engineer's arsenal. It is here where creativity is unencumbered by equations and distractions, that the most consequential decisions are made. In continuance of this tradition, we place great importance on spending time honing the concept of a design to near perfection. Once we have a concept nailed down, our rockets are conceived in the virtual realm, before they are brought to the physical. With these problems we can identify problems in simulations and fix them before they are committed to hardware. There are some things that a virtual model cannot predict, and for these we use physical prototypes. We have a variety of options at our disposal to quickly produce high quality prototypes. But beyond the equations and simulations lies our unwavering commitment to preserving indigenous values and culture. Thunderbird Aerospace is proof that innovation and Indigenization are not mutually exclusive, and we seek to demonstrate that even the sky is a limit that can be overcome.