SBHS Aerospace
Competition teams
Our Teams
Each competition team has its own project, skills, and goals. Use the Teams menu at the top of the page to switch between them, or see every team in one table.
American Rocketry Challenge (2 teams)
Two teams this year. Team A is our returning team, and Team B came out of the summer tryouts.
The American Rocketry Challenge is a national student rocketry contest run by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry. Every team builds a rocket that has to carry a raw egg to a set altitude, stay up for a set amount of time, and land without cracking the egg. Scores are based on how close you get, so lower is better.
Competing as South Brunswick Aerospace Club, the nonprofit, our teams made the National Finals in The Plains, Virginia, in 2024, 2025, and 2026, and one of those teams placed 50th of the 100 finalists. For the 2025-26 season the team designed an airbrake system with its own flight code, Rocket++. This year's build was on the pad at our World Space Week launch in October 2026.
Roster
Team A
- Samuel Asefa
- Yug Dhami
- Pranav Gentela
- Krishna Iyer
- Prabhav Kongara
- Kunsh Mittal
- Krish Saravanakumar
- Zafir Shamsi
- Atharva Vignesh
- Pranav Yogeswaran
Team B (so far)
Co-captains: Kunsh Mittal and Prabhav Kongara
- Kalp Doshi
- Lasindu Gunasekara
- Mridhula Velayutha
Team B made the 2026 National Finals, one of 100 teams picked from 1,107 entries and one of six from New Jersey.
Team A
Captain: Zafir Shamsi
- Zafir Shamsi
- Samuel Asefa
- Pranav Gentela
- Prabhav Kongara
- Aarush Latti
- Kunsh Mittal
- Krish Saravanakumar
- Atharva Vignesh
- Pranav Yogeswaran
Team B
- Vivek Banker
- Ritwik Desai
- Yug Dhami
- Alin Jain
- Braiden Martin
- Indrajith Vinod Nambiar
- Saahith Paruchuri
- Eshaan Revankar
- Ryan Varghese
- Pranavkirthik Vijayakumaar
Made the 2025 National Finals in The Plains, Virginia.
Team
- Samuel Asefa
- Vivek Banker
- Alin Jain
- Havish Kolavennu
- Aarush Modali
- Aman Pullatikarti
- Zafir Shamsi
- Pranav Yogeswaran
Made the 2024 National Finals in The Plains, Virginia, our first trip.
Team
- Havish Kolavennu
- Aarush Modali
- Aman Pullatikarti
- Zafir Shamsi
- Shyam Srikant
- Kevin Varghese
- Co-captains (2026-27)
- Kunsh Mittal and Prabhav Kongara
- Skills used
- Rocket design, OpenRocket simulation, CAD, electronics
- Past results
- National Finals in 2024, 2025, and 2026
Photos
NASA TechRise
Returning team. It's close to full.
In NASA's TechRise Student Challenge, students design an experiment that rides along on a high-altitude balloon or a suborbital rocket flight.
Our team won the 2025-26 Student Challenge in January 2026 with a proposal called NDVI Mapping via Machine Learning, which came with $1,500 and mentorship from NASA engineers. The payload measures visible and near-infrared light to map vegetation. The prototype records World View balloon telemetry and its own sensor readings to an SD card once a second.
Roster
Members so far
Captain: Pranav Yogeswaran
- Aditya Agarwal
- Adriaan Das
- Sanjay Murali
- Darsh Savajiyani
- Ishan Seeri
- Aryan Yerra
Won the 2025-26 Student Challenge in January 2026 with the proposal NDVI Mapping via Machine Learning.
Team
Advisor: Ms. Chishti
- Samuel Asefa
- Pranav Gentela
- Prabhav Kongara
- Kunsh Mittal
- Krish Saravanakumar
- Zafir Shamsi
- Atharva Vignesh
- Pranav Yogeswaran
- Captain (2026-27)
- Pranav Yogeswaran
- Skills used
- 4. Electronics, 9. Research
- Past results
- 2026 Student Challenge winner
Photos from the build
Genes in Space (2 teams)
Two teams this year. Neither has competed yet.
Genes in Space is a contest where students propose a DNA or molecular biology experiment that could be run on the International Space Station.
We have two separate Genes in Space teams this year. Both came together through this year's tryouts.
Roster
2026-27Team 1 (so far)
- Rayan Hossain
Team 2 (so far)
- Anika Panchal
- Captains (2026-27)
- Pranav Yogeswaran and Pranav Gentela
- Skills used
- 7. Biology, 9. Research
- Past results
- None yet
Aviation Design Challenge
Forming this year. It hasn't competed yet.
The Aviation Design Challenge is run by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). High school teams use flight simulation to design and test changes to an aircraft.
Our team came together through this year's tryouts.
- Captain (2026-27)
- Krish Saravanakumar
- Skills used
- 6. Physics, 2. Simulation, 9. Research
- Past results
- None yet
Cubes in Space
Forming this year. It hasn't competed yet.
In Cubes in Space, students design an experiment small enough to fit inside a cube a few centimeters wide. Selected experiments fly on a NASA sounding rocket or a high-altitude balloon.
Our team came together through this year's tryouts.
Roster
2026-27Members so far
- Kallempudi Bhavesh
- Nischal Gajendra
- Durgaganesh Yallabandi
- Captain (2026-27)
- Krish Saravanakumar
- Skills used
- 4. Electronics, 9. Research, 3. Computer Science
- Past results
- None yet
REC Foundation Aerial Drone Competition
Forming this year, and it's close to full. It hasn't competed yet.
In the REC Foundation's Aerial Drone Competition, teams fly and program drones to complete piloted and autonomous challenges.
Our team came together through this year's tryouts.
Roster
2026-27Members so far
- Prabhav Kongara
- Adhith Kumar
- Rohan Kumar
- Kunsh Mittal
- Vedant Navale
- Captains (2026-27)
- Pranav Gentela, with co-captains Kunsh Mittal and Prabhav Kongara
- Skills used
- 3. Computer Science, 5. Mechanical, 6. Physics, 1. CAD
- Past results
- None yet