Asunción, Agencia IP.- Paraguayan students broke the sound barrier with the rocket Yaguareté 2 during the 2025 International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC). This milestone for national aerospace engineering was achieved by the GISPA team from the Polytechnic Faculty of the National University of Asunción (UNA).
The team is composed of students Kevin Lezcano, Marcos Garay, Marcelo Galeano, Hugo Colmán, Sol Fariña, Sebastián Solís, Esteban Vallejos, and Brenda Cantero, under the academic coordination of professors Félix Kanazawa and Adolfo Jara, who are leading the push for aerospace innovation from the classroom.
The competition took place in the desert of Midland, Texas, on June 12. The team’s participation was made possible thanks to the financial support of Penguin. This company believed in national talent, which covered the team’s travel and lodging expenses in the United States.
The Yaguareté 2 rocket reached an altitude of 11,907 feet (3.6 kilometers). It broke the sound barrier, making it the first Paraguayan rocket to achieve this in an international competition.
Weighing 14 kg and with a flight duration of 4 minutes and 15 seconds, the rocket was developed through a combination of aeronautical engineering, scientific research, and local artisanal techniques. During the entire flight, it transmitted real-time data, which is now being analyzed to improve future versions.