A university student and self-proclaimed "aerospace nerd" has helped to create Canada's first liquid rocket.
Matthew Gordon, a third-year mechanical engineering student at the University of Waterloo, says he has been "obsessed" with physics and math since he was in elementary school in Orillia.
"I was very fortunate to have a combination of some really interesting course content and really good teachers through elementary and high school," he explained. "It really sparked my passion for math and physics."
Gordon, 22, dubs himself an "aerospace nerd," saying it's something he has loved since he was six.
"It's fascinating to think about what is out there," he said. "We are just this tiny little speck on Earth."
While the University of Waterloo doesn't have an aerospace program, mechanical engineering is the next best thing, he explained.
"It was the natural place for me to go based on my interests," he said. "I've always looked up to the people who solve engineering challenges and have figured out how to make all of this stuff work."
As soon as Gordon arrived on campus, he joined the Waterloo rocketry team that is made up of around 100 undergrad students.
"We make sounding rockets that don't go all the way to space, but they go up pretty high and fast," he explained. "The team exists so that students can get really cool hands-on aerospace and engine design experience."
To the team's knowledge, a rocket that has a liquid fuel engine had never been launched in Canada. That is why Gordon and the team took on the challenge of being the first.
"We started designing this rocket last year," he explained. "It's taken a lot of work, but at the end of August in Timmins, we got the opportunity to launch."
While attending the Launch Canada Challenge, the 13-foot-tall rocket travelled over 19,000 feet, just lower than the altitude of a commercial airliner.
"We got the rocket back in one piece," he said. "It's really cool."
Gordon served on the team this year as the operations lead. He was responsible for all of the engine testing.
"We wanted to make sure that the engine wasn't going to blow up before we put on the rest of the really expensive hardware and a rocket on top," he said. "I was responsible for coming up with test plans and then actually running those tests."
Gordon was also tasked with getting the rocket configured for launch and designing parts of the engine.
"By the time we got to launch day, we had tested that rocket so thoroughly and figured out everything that could go wrong," he said. "Once we got it on the rail and ready to go, I was quite confident that it was going to work."
Gordon credits his team for logging late hours and long nights testing the rocket to ensure its successful launch.
"There was a lot of testing where we broke a lot of stuff and failed," he said. "That was the best way to learn what needed to be fixed."
Working on the rocket has taught Gordon new design and teamwork skills which, he notes, will be applicable to his future career.
Gordon will travel to New Zealand in January to begin his eight-month internship with Rocket Lab, a publicly traded aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider.
While Canada doesn't have the calibre of aerospace industry compared to many of its allies, Gordon hopes to stimulate growth in the industry.
"We produce a lot of aerospace talent," he said. "All of that talent has to go elsewhere to work."
Gordon one day hopes to land a job with an up-and-coming aerospace company in his home country.
