A TEAM from the University of Edinburgh won the Best Payload Award at the European Rocketry Challenge following the successful launch of their Darwin III rocket in Portugal this month.
The university’s rocketry team, endeavour, travelled to the event for what was their first rocket launch.
The society was originally started by Neil Buchanan, who had a keen interest in aerospace but, as there was no department at Edinburgh for the subject, took it upon himself to help students get experience.
One beneficiary of this is Alberto Progida, who served as chief engineer on the Darwin III project and now works at Scottish-based firm Orbex.
Progida, originally from Italy, graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a degree in mechanical engineering. He told The National: “I’ve been part of endeavour for two and a half years.
“I originally started off as payload engineer and I really liked when we were in Portugal for last year’s event.
“This event was very special because it was much closer to home. Its closest competitor is the Spaceport America Cup which takes place in New Mexico.
“As you can imagine, getting a team out there along with the rocket and rocket fuel is very expensive.
“Going to Portugal meant a much lower barrier for entry especially when we’re a university-level entry team.”
Although the team were able to travel to last year’s event, they were unable to launch owing to a combination of procedural issues and bad weather.
“There was a mixture of one year’s worth of design but two years of experience combined into this vehicle”, Progida explains.
The rocket itself was 2750 millimetres long and had a six-inch outer diameter. The payload inside the rocket was a 2U CubeSat described by Progida as an “industry standard unit of satellite”.
The one inside the team’s rocket was 20cm high and then 10x10cm in width.
Progida said it was “incredible” for the team to receive the award.
He continued: “We were very happy with our design and once we got to fly it, it went supersonic in a matter of seconds before eventually going above that speed.
“It was travelling at over 1900 kilometres per hour so we were very happy with that.”
This is higher and faster than any vehicle ever designed by a Scottish team.
Although the ascension of the rocket went smoothly, the landing was less so. The parachutes did not inflate, meaning the rocket hit the ground at 240 metres per second.
Progida said: “We lost the lock on the rocket and the issue with the parachutes meant we didn’t have a perfect landing.
“It was ultimately the team’s first launch so we couldn’t expect everything to go perfectly.”
However, the team were able to recover some of the data gathered by the rocket having initially believed the crash meant it had all been lost.
Progida added: “Amongst the rubble we found a small chip covered in dust and damaged but we managed to re-solder it with the help of a technician and extract the data which I think is a story in itself.
“As impressive as it is to see the launch, we are engineers so we are interested in the performance and seeing how close it was able to match our expectations.”
Looking to the future, the team are looking at researching and developing a liquid engine which would allow for greater control of the rocket and, as Progida explained, hopefully allow for more control over landings.
The team hope that their success can inspire the next generation, something they already aim to do themselves with their work throughout Scotland.
“We do tons of workshops in the local schools around Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland.
“We bring in rocket parts and talk about the design process, from kids in the early years of primary all the way up to those studying Highers,” Progida explained.
He added: “I think that it’s helping to get people excited about space.”
