Victor Peresson on rocketry, engineering and “making stuff”

Victor Peresson, president of the Waikato University Astronautics Club (UWAC), has always loved to tinker. Building things is his passion, and there’s no limitation to what he will create. 

“I’ve always tinkered. You know, making electronics, mechanical design, 3D printing stuff”, he said. “But I didn’t even know that rocketry existed, I think Logan [UWAC’s Vice President] told me about it. But I’ve always had an interest in building stuff, and then I found rocketry which incorporates those interests”. 

Despite focusing much of his energy on rockets this year, he also has other projects. He bought a project car earlier this year to modify (which his mother disapproves of), and he also owns a 3D printer. The astronautics club is his pride and joy however, and he says he just likes “making stuff”. “The club enables us to do some cool stuff”, Peresson said.

“It’s been cool to launch our first rocket this year. Building that and modifying it with the members has been great. I think that’s my favourite part, just making stuff like that with everyone”. Their first rocket was launched in October this year, and was a metre and a half long fuel powered rocket. It took a few attempts to get going on the day, but ended up shooting 900 metres in the air. 

Peresson feels that the club offers a lot of value to students at the University. “Getting kids into rocketry will get them excited about science and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), a lot more than, I don’t know, sitting in maths class”, he said. “We started this group because we really wanted to fly rockets and do space stuff and there was nothing like that at the University”. 

He believes that space travel and exploration are more valuable to society than people realise. “It’s all about discovery and learning things about our planet, and the planets. It might also solve some problems along the way”, Peresson said. He would love to find a career in this field after he graduates with his bachelor of mechanical engineering.

“I’d love to just design and make stuff. Rockets would be cool but rockets are only part of it you know”, he said. “There’s always exploration to be done. That’s the coolest thing you know, people wanting to go to the moon and mars. So anything to do with that would be really exciting. But like I said, it’s not just rocketry, it’s all sorts of manufacturing and engineering that I’m interested in”

“I feel like if you’re motivated and actually interested in the industry, there will always be opportunities there for you”. 

UWAC has presented exciting opportunities for students already. “We went to the NZ Aerospace Summit 2023. We also visited the University of Canterbury’s Rocket Club. They’re pretty much a more experienced version of our group”

“We made a lot of connections at the summit”. 

Groups like RocketLab, a space exploration company from the US, have expressed that they see clubs such as UWAC as a green flag when hiring new employees, and taking on interns. Peresson won’t graduate until next year, but is looking forward to working in the industry. He says his dream job is anything where he would be free to create and build.