UTEP all-female rocket team wins back-to-back Lone Star Cup championship

EL PASO, Texas — The University of Texas at El Paso’s Sun City Summit Rocket Team has won the Lone Star Cup for the second year in a row.

According to UTEP, this year’s win was especially notable because the team was represented by a five-member cohort made up entirely of women.

The competition was held March 28 at the Tripoli North Texas Launch Site, about 160 miles east of Lubbock. The Lone Star Cup challenges collegiate rocket teams from across Texas to demonstrate precision engineering and execution under real-world conditions.

UTEP says the team designed and built a rocket named “Dust Devil” for the competition. The rocket delivered a near-perfect performance, reaching an apogee of 5,695 feet — just five feet shy of its projected 5,700 feet.

The second-place team missed its target by about 320 feet, according to the university.

The all-women group included students from engineering programs across UTEP. Their faculty advisor said the win reflects strong design, careful execution and teamwork.

UTEP says the team is now preparing for a larger competition, the International Rocket Engineering Competition, scheduled for June in Midland, Texas.

The team is also developing a new rocket intended to reach an altitude of 30,000 feet.