Ray's 6ft Ariel launching at Bentwaters
Park on a Smoky Sam H motor
Toffee-fuelled rocket flies
Warlock takes to the sky fuelled by toffee -
yes, just the same stuff kids eat!
UH achieved its first flight of a toffee-fuelled hybrid rocket on Sunday 7th March 2010, at the first EARS launch event of the season, near Cambridge. The motor was a Pentamax hybrid, normally rated at 1500NS (K class), fitted with a modified injector designed by a UH student. The fuel grain was made up from toffee cooked up on a stove at home, lit by a piece of AP composite propellant. Recovery was by parachute, deployed at apogee using an RDAS altimeter.
The altitude reached on the flight was 1740 feet.
(More news and photos - see News Archive).
Rocketry started here at the University in October 2005. The purpose is to develop a rocketry presence to motivate students, carry out some research and development and to help with student recruitment. From a fresh start, we have progressed quickly from model rockets into high-power rocketry. We have built a number of rockets, and have several being built at the moment. We have recently added a page containing some technical data and techniques.
We have one lecturer certified to UKRA/Tripoli Level 2 standard, who is a qualified Range Rafety Officer (RSO), able to supervise and certify flights up to Level 2. (See the details of the Odin.) He is currently working towards his Level 3 certification - the highest possible - with his Sky Streak. Quite a few students are involved in model rockets so far, and we offer help with Level 1 certification for those who build a suitable rocket, by paying for the motor reload for their first Level 1 attempt. So far, one student has built and successfully flown a Level 1 certifying rocket.
We have close ties with Deepsky Rocket Shop, and are supplying components to them. We plan to be supplying rocket kits in the near future. We have been designing and building our own hybrid motors for a couple of years. We have worked on several TV productions, the most recent being for Scrapheap Challenge, where Ray assisted Paul Lavin of Deepsky in preparing the rocket motor for a rocket-powered railway vehicle. Ray's Ariel has also featured on TV, including the launch shown in the adjacent picture. There are more photos in the Gallery.
We run rocket workshops for schools in our area, with a talk on what it's all about, a few sums on rocket performance and a demonstration launch if the weather is right. It is sometimes possible to arrange for school groups to build and fly their own rockets - please for details.
You can download a poster in PDF format of our latest activities - the current one is March 2009 (850Kb, A3 format).
Fit to fly?
We fly most often at the EARS club launches near Cambridge: