It's rocket science...what a group of students is doing at the College of Menominee Nation in Green Bay.

Several students are building a rocket so they can compete in NASA’s University Student Launch Initiative (USLI).

What makes this interesting is that College of Menominee Nation is a 2-year institution, and the students involved aren’t majoring in physics or engineering.

But they're not completely new to this either...

Last year, several members of this group built their first rocket, Golden Eagle.

It was for the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium Student Rocket Design Competition; which is a statewide competition against groups from other colleges.

They built Golden Eagle using the German V-2 rocket (from World War II) as a model; and constructed it from scratch using wood and cardboard, in accordance with one of the foundational beliefs of the College of Menominee Nation.

“One of the main principles of the College of Menominee Nation is sustainable development because they have 200,000 acres of virgin forest,” says Dr. Norbert Hill, Vice President of the College of Menominee Nation’s Green Bay site.

In that first competition, they didn't place, but they won the "Director's Award" for "a creative solution to an engineering challenge".

Since then, the college has been selected to participate in USLI.

For this contest, they'll be facing major universities from across the country, which makes the Five Clans Rocket Team stand out, and makes the event very meaningful for the college.

"It's a college of a second chance," says Hill, "The college does lots for our community in terms of equalizing the playing field, socioeconomically and in other ways."

The Five Clans Team's rocket for the USLI competition is called Gray Wolf.

For that competition, the rocket will have to be reusable, reach an altitude of one mile, and carry what's called a scientific payload.

"This one is designed to house infrared cameras and thermal imaging equipment," says the Five Clans Rocket Team President, Dan Hawk.

One of the potential purposes of such devices in the rocket would be to monitor wolf populations and changes in their habitat.

Some of the team members are even exploring potential commercial applications that their rocket building projects could bring to the forefront.

For them, the sky's the limit.

You can read about the Five Clans Rocket Team's current projects, their team members, and their community outreach endeavors by clicking on the link below this article.