The UKROC (UK National Youth Rocketry Challenge) tasks teams to design and build rockets to complete a mission taking a payload to altitude and then returning safely to Earth.
This year’s mission required teams to launch a rocket weighing no more than 650g to a height of 790 feet, carrying two eggs in the astronaut position (on their sides, not upright), and return safely within 41-44 seconds. For each foot above or below the target height, teams incur one point, and for each second over or under the target time, they also incur one point. The ideal score is zero.
After two terms of research, design, and construction, Epsom’s teams were eager to see if their rockets were up to the task.
Team Orion were up first, after a good launch the rocket reached its apogee (highest point), it turned to head back down… but, disaster struck. The secondary charge did not go off and the parachutes did not deploy. The rocket came speeding back down to earth, shattering the egg payload and the rocket’s nose section.
Despite this setback, the team worked hard to assemble their spare rocket and went back for a second try. This flight went better, and they scored 91 points.
Team Perseus headed to the launch pad, confident their calculations would pay off. The launch went well but the coupler came loose, deploying the parachute as the rocket was still accelerating upwards. Fortunately, the rocket survived this, however they did not reach the target height and the flight time was too short.
Undeterred, they went to work – improving the seal between the lower section and the coupler for the second launch. They headed to the launch pad in the afternoon sun, but then the motor malfunctioned and set the rocket on fire, effectively ending their hopes of reaching the finals.
Team Cassiopeia headed to the launch pad with their striking neon pink rocket and were confident of doing well. A successful launch saw the rocket head towards the clouds, before hitting apogee and descending.
The parachute opened perfectly and the payload was returned to Earth safely – a good flight, which saw the team score 59 points.
The team went back to work to try and reduce the apogee altitude and decrease the flight time. They launched again, successful for a second time, and had another good flight. However, with increasing winds, their flight time was a little longer, leading to a final score of 65 points.
We now wait for the conclusion of the qualification rounds with the winners of each heat, and then the best-performing rockets from across the UK, will be selected for the finals in May.
A special thank you to Mr Johnstone and Dr Telfer-Mason for organising and overseeing the competition and for supporting the teams throughout this exciting journey.
Team Members
- Orion’s team members included Andrew, Tom, Oliver, and Hugo.
- Perseus’ team members included Ali, Alex, Bogdan, Ned and Sasha.
- Cassiopeia’s team members included Olivia, Kiki, Xanthe, Ciara, Yubien.
