Out of this world
Orediggers are shaping the future of space exploration—one mission at a time. From designing systems on lunar landers to launching record-breaking rockets, Mines students and graduates are proving their impact in the aerospace industry is anything but minor.
In a historic first, Firefly Aerospace successfully landed their Blue Ghost lunar lander, making them the first commercial company to achieve a fully successful soft-landing on the Moon. Three Mines alumni played key roles in this milestone: Giuseppe Pasqualino ’13 (vision systems engineer), Andres Ramirez ’15 (thermal engineer) and Jackson Sweeney ’23 (thermal engineer).
Mines alumni were also part of another major lunar moment when Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 lunar lander touched down near the Moon’s south pole in early March 2025. Though the lander ended up on its side 250 meters from its intended landing site, mission controllers were still able to accelerate several program and payload milestones before the lander’s batteries depleted. This included a payload from Lunar Outpost, a Colorado-based company founded by Mines graduates. They deployed a rover called Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform, or MAPP, intended to test communications equipment, work to create a 3D map of the Moon’s surface and take photos.
Closer to home but still sky high, the Mines Rocket Club launched a two-stage rocket named Fever Dream to 43,476 feet above California’s Mojave Desert—the equivalent of 1.5 Mount Everests high. At maximum velocity, the rocket reached a speed of 2.3 times the speed of sound. This launch brings Mines into the top five in the world for university rocketry team launch altitude.
