Details of University of Idaho rocket fuel explosion slow to emerge

A faculty adviser to Washington State University’s Aerospace Club said the club decided a full year ago to not to test its own rocket fuel.

Such a ban does not appear to have been in place by a similar club, the Northwest Organization of Rocket Engineers, at the University of Idaho. Rocket fuel being tested by the club exploded the night of April 13 in a parking lot east of the university steam plant and resulted in four UI students being sent to the hospital with serious injuries.

In an email to the Daily News, WSU Aerospace faculty advisor Kshitij Jerath had no comment on what might have caused the UI incident, but he said WSU’s club made the decision about a year ago to no longer manufacture its own rocket fuel.

“At the WSU Aerospace Club, we realize that working with untested rocket propellants is an inherently dangerous endeavor. Consequently, we decided not to pursue in-house manufacture of rocket fuel due the significant safety risks involved,” Jerath wrote.

Grant Thurman, a member of NORE, told the Daily News after the incident the club had been testing rocket fuel it had created when the explosion occurred, however, UI Director of Communications Jodi Walker said that aspect, and all other aspects of the explosion, are still being investigated by a task force that includes herself and 10 other UI faculty members. Walker said the task force will compile its findings into a report to give to UI President Chuck Staben this month, though there is no set due date for the report.

In March, the Associated Students UI Senate granted $1,635 to the club. According to coverage of the meeting by the UI’s student newspaper, The Argonaut, club co-chairs Daniel Furman and Bailey Lind-Trefts told senators the club had just formed at the beginning of the spring semester, which began in January.

Less than a month after the funds were approved, four students, three of them enrolled in the College of Engineering and members of the club, were sent to Gritman Medical Center for their injuries after rocket fuel they were testing exploded. Dan Ewart, UI vice president for infrastructure, said a faculty member was also present during the experiment.

As part of the test the club was performing, the fuel, which was designed in-house for model rockets, was placed in a galvanized metal pipe, 8 to 12 inches in length and about 1.5 inches in diameter, and ignited, causing the unexpected explosion, which was heard throughout the town. Ewart emphasized that the intention of the experiment was not to launch a rocket into the air but to test the rocket fuel.

It is unclear whether ASUI reimbursement funds were used to test the rocket fuel. ASUI Sen. Jordan Kizer said the funds approved by ASUI were supposed to help the club build a prototype solid-fueled rocket.

According to ASUI’s records, the club had originally asked ASUI for $5,000 from its allocations budget so it could create rockets, compete at the 2018 Spaceport America Cup and gather as much funding as possible, according to the Argonaut’s report. That request was cut down to $1,635 after a reassessment.

“We realized that we didn’t exactly need the full amount that we were asking for just yet,” Lind-Trefts was quoted as saying in the Argonaut. “What we got is exactly what (we) need to get NORE off the ground.”

Student organizations can be created at any point during the academic year at the UI, though clubs looking to be recognized by ASUI and apply for reimbursement funding must complete an application process that includes identifying a board-appointed university faculty or staff member to advise the organization, creating a student constitution that complies to certain nondiscrimination and student membership clauses, and filling out a form online. That process is the same for any type of club, from the Laughing Club to a rocket engineering club like NORE, Director of Student Involvement Shawn O’Neal said.

The online form does include a question that asks whether the club will handle something that could be considered volatile, O’Neal said. If the box is checked, the club is referred to UI’s Risk Management Office for additional input. Organizations that successfully complete the application process then become officially recognized by and eligible for reimbursement funding from ASUI.

Kizer told the Daily News there was not much concern over safety as the senate considered the club’s request.

“The reason for that is they are a student organization and it’s well known that student organizations have to have an established faculty adviser,” Kizer said.

NORE adviser John Crepeau had no comment on the incident, as the investigation is continuing, and he directed questions to the UI’s media relations department.

“Since the investigation’s ongoing, we’ve just been asked by the university not to – just to have the university deal with those matters,” Crepeau told the Daily News on Wednesday.

Moscow Chief of Police James Fry said groups conducting fuel tests are not required to notify police beforehand.