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Go for Launch

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By Daniel Willoughby


"I started DSA because I saw how much fun working on spaceflight projects is for people in real life. It takes a lot of effort and teamwork and has the power to bring people together. The best part about space flight is the rewarding experience of achieving something incredibly difficult and being able to say ‘We did that!’ I wanted to bring that spirit of tackling hard challenges and doing really cool stuff in space to Dalat. Our mission at the DSA is to get people excited about space flight to inspire them to pursue future aerospace careers and help educate them on some of the core concepts involved with space flight and space exploration."

Iyan Sandahl (12), leader of DSA, or the Dalat Space Agency, founded his brainchild as a high-school club at the beginning of last year. The idea was to spend time teaching modern spaceflight, space history, and the engineering involved, to those who were interested.

It started out with lessons, weekly updates, Kerbal Space Program tutorials, and bottle rockets. An experiment that was originally taught by Mr. Neeley in ninth grade physics, the bottle rockets became a staple experiment at DSA, since they were able to serve as a versatile test bed for other projects. Between aerodynamics, 3D printing, radio communications, optical software, mechanical tests, and pressure hull design, there was enough for people interested in almost any engineering field to work on!

This year, however, a new opportunity arose: solid model-rocket motors. Based on tests that had already taken place the year before, and through the gracious supervision of the science department and use of their chemistry laboratory, we were able to test real live propellants. It eventually culminated in the design of a brand new DSA rocket, dubbed Phoenix.

And now, DSA is ready for its first trial of this brand new rocket. There is no way to tell the outcomes; but as rocket scientists, it's our job to push the frontiers, even if the outcomes seem like failure to most people. This trial will give us a lot of data, even if the launch isn’t as successful as we hope.

And so, with this in mind, DSA plans to head to the launch pad next week, for our launch nicknamed “Bring on the Heat!” The whole thing will be livestreamed with commentary, unlisted on YouTube, for anyone who wishes to participate live.

It’s been a journey, and a fun one, over the last two years. The heart of a club is in the heart of those who lead it. The Dalat Space Agency has served as a way for people to branch out into projects and hobbies that would never have been possible without collaboration from the school. 

As the class of 2025 leaves, DSA won’t be the same anymore; but we hope to continue inspiring people from afar to pursue their dreams in whatever eclectic way seems the most fun to them, in the nurturing environment that is Dalat International School.

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