South Texas students have a new chance to taste the race for space

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BROWNSVILLE — Every few months, thousands of people gather on nearby shores to watch rockets lift off from Boca Chica Beach. The eyes of residents — young and old — gaze up as SpaceX tests its vehicles to one day take humans to Mars.

Now, high school students here are being offered the opportunity to design, build and launch a rocket of their own.

The South Texas Astronomical Society, known as STARSociety for short, is accepting applications for Project Vortex, an initiative that will give high school students first-hand experience in building a rocket to launch it in the spring.

Lizzie Flores, executive director of STARSociety and a student at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, said they want to encourage high school students to pursue careers in space sciences, especially those who might lack confidence in entering those fields.

"We just want to engage as many kids as we can with getting them to believe in themselves," Flores said. "So many kids just don't think that they're good enough."

Participation in Project Vortex is free, which was made possible through a series of sponsorships.

SpaceX’s launch site is located on one of the southernmost tips of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley, a heavily Hispanic region that for decades has been defined not by space exploration, but poverty. Even with a growing space economy in Cameron County, which includes Brownsville, the average income is just $24,283, according to the Census. Nearly 90 percent of students in the Brownsville school district qualify for government-subsidized meals, an indication of poverty.

Project Vortex is the latest example of how Elon Musk’s company is changing the region — albeit slowly.

Sabian Cardenas, another UTRGV student and mentor with STARSociety, said there aren't many opportunities for high school students in the Rio Grande Valley to learn about rocketry and aerospace engineering, and hopes Project Vortex can fill that void.

"This is a program, first of its kind, trying to give that opportunity for high schoolers to develop those skills for teamwork and more technical-like abilities," Cardenas said.

Growing up in Brownsville, Cardenas assumed he would have to leave the Valley to pursue a career in space sciences, but SpaceX gave him hope that staying was an option.

"I don't have to leave the Valley to be chasing my dreams for aerospace," he said.

The students accepted into Project Vortex will gain hands-on experience in building a rocket that could be up to 11-feet high.

During the 13-week program, students will be split into four teams: structures, avionics, operations and recovery, and business and outreach. The purpose is to help students understand that there are different roles they can fill to build a rocket.

It is set to start later this fall, and they are targeting June for the rocket launch. The goal is to hit an altitude of 10,000 feet.

Project Vortex comes as SpaceX continues to expand its footprint in South Texas. The space exploration company has been conducting test flights of its fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket since 2023.

Earlier this year, the Federal Aviation Administration cleared the way for SpaceX to increase the frequency of its launches, from five to 25 times per year.

The company is now seeking to expand its existing launch pad and infrastructure at Starbase, the new city that encompasses the SpaceX campus, by another 21 acres.

The growth of SpaceX in the Valley has garnered more interest in aerospace among the community, Flores said. During their gatherings, the group has fielded questions about SpaceX's operations. Most often, parents would approach them on behalf of their children who expressed an interest in space sciences.

The influence of SpaceX is undeniable to Isaac Choutapalli, founding director of UTRGV's Center for Aerospace Research.

"The presence of SpaceX has been a catalyst, I would say, to increase student interest in aerospace related careers, and also in general, increase interest in STEM areas,” Choutapalli said.

Funded by a grant from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the research center enables graduate and undergraduate students to conduct research across multiple fields of study to create one product. Choutapalli said that the ability to work within different areas of study is very important and attractive for students who want to pursue aerospace, a field that requires the combination of different subject areas.

At the research center’s inception two years ago, Choutapalli only had three students. But as activity at SpaceX’s launch site ramped up, more students have inquired about aerospace courses, internships and careers. The center now includes 35 students, though Choutapalli said between 50 to 100 have requested to join.

Two of his students went to work at SpaceX, and the center is hoping to soon begin a collaboration with the company. SpaceX did not respond to a request for an interview.

Rayyan Farooqui, a high school intern with the STARSociety, did not initially want to pursue aerospace, but that changed after he moved to Brownsville in 2021.

"When I came to Brownsville and I saw the first Starship launch, and I saw what SpaceX was doing, that kind of shifted my mind," said Farooqui who moved to the Valley from Houston.

Seeing Starship rockets go off in their backyard, so to speak, has really ignited curiosity among other students, Farooqui said, and STARSociety aims to foster that.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

Disclosure: The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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