UCL Rocket - Who are We?
At UCL Rocket, we design, build, and launch high-performance rockets, competing nationally and internationally. With each project, we inspire and equip the next generation of rocketeers with practical, industry-ready skills. We are committed to pushing the boundaries of student-led rocketry through hands-on learning and data-driven design.
Our team comprises 40+ undergraduates from diverse backgrounds with wide-ranging engineering experience. Most members are Mechanical Engineering students, with others from Medical Physics and Electrical Engineering. Our team has won 1st place in the UKSEDS National Rocketry Championship for two consecutive years, demonstrating our track record of effective teamwork and innovation. We also produced our first liquid bi-propellant engine for the 2024 Race2Space propulsion competition, which successfully hot-fired with a thrust of 730N!
Feel free to reach out to us on Instagram and LinkedIn!
Project Overview:
This year, our team is going to America! Here, we will compete in the International Rocket Engineering Competition; the largest rocket competition in the world! As part of our 4m tall launch vehicle, we plan on incorporating a bio-mechanical experiment investigating how high G-force conditions affect the non-Newtonian properties of blood using a custom-built rheometer.
Blood’s viscosity varies due to the non-uniform dimensions of red blood cells. At low shear rates, the cells introduce Brownian forces, leading to higher viscosity. Meanwhile, rouleaux formations, red blood cells stacking on top of one another, tend to form further increasing viscosity. At high G-forces, red blood cells undergo haemolysis, the breakdown of the cells, resulting in blood with a higher concentration of cells, known as haematocrit. This increases the blood’s viscosity even further. Our experiment hypothesizes that the additional G-forces from the rocket will cause an increase in haematocrit, leading to higher blood viscosity.
However, to test our hypothesis, we must be able to remotely control our rheometer and maintain its temperature at a predetermined value safely. This is necessary because temperatures in the American deserts can vary substantially during the hours it takes for our rocket to go from the pad to launch. Hence, our team decided to develop a custom LoRa arming mechanism that can control the rheometer remotely.
Journey and Development:
To achieve this, we first had to determine our core objectives, which included the following criteria:
- Operate the rheometer on both UK and US frequencies.
- Achieve a communication range of over 10 km.
- Receive and transmit data from the rheometer to the ground station.
Our team began by consulting industry mentors and technicians to understand what was possible. Following this, we determined that RS could be invaluable for our rheometer transmission mechanism. RS kindly supplied us with GAMMA62T LoRa modules. LoRa, short for Long Range, is particularly interesting for this application as it allows for ultra-high-range communication with relatively low power. This means it can easily fit in a rocket without the need for heavy batteries, which would be detrimental to flight. The RS-provided LoRa transceiver module was particularly significant, as it allows for up to 20 km of range and operation on both UK and US frequencies, satisfying all our objectives.
With this in mind, we knew we needed to select the correct gear to properly tune the system. Specifically, we needed two antennas. Because a rocket typically spins a lot and follows an unpredictable path, we ideally wanted an omnidirectional antenna with low gain. This would allow the radio signal to be transmitted in all directions, ensuring detection regardless of orientation. However, since these signals tend to be weak, we paired it with a high-gain directional antenna on the ground. This antenna must be pointed at the rocket at all times to capture the radio waves emanating from it, even though such components tend to be expensive for high-range applications.
To that end, RS came to the rescue again. This time, they provided us with two antennas that suited our needs perfectly, along with the necessary hardware to make our payload work. This included a Peltier cooler to keep our rheometer at the optimal temperature set by our operators and an Arduino Uno to receive thermal data and remotely control the Peltier.
We are currently in the process of manufacturing and testing our rheometer payload. Any student interested in attempting a similar biological or radio transmission project is welcome to reach out for more information on the extensive knowledge we’ve gained over the last couple of months!
Student Goals/Outcomes:
The ultimate goal for our students is twofold. Firstly, our team aims to equip our members with high-power certifications and associated skills. Students begin by designing, building, and launching a low-power rocket (A-D class), then progress to mid-power and high-power rockets, with the latter used for the certification launch. We require all rockets to be SRAD, with at least one incorporating dual deployment. Through this pathway, members learn to prepare a rocket for launch, adjust delay grains, modify black powder charges, and develop all the necessary skills to conduct rocket launches safely and independently. This process also provides an opportunity for teams to test equipment, such as telemetry, before official competitions. We hope the experiences gained from these initiatives help our students gain practical experience at university and set them up for careers in aerospace and defence.
Secondly, we aim to equip our students with strong communication and soft skills. We strongly believe that success depends on collaboration and team dynamics. To that end, we ensure that our projects are highly multidisciplinary and collaborative. We also push our new recruits out of their comfort zones by encouraging them to reach out to industry experts to gain mentorship and experience.
All in all, our approach has proven successful. Our members have gone on to secure internships at Leonardo, MBDA, Lockheed Martin, Mclaren F1, BMW, and more! Our students have also managed to secure further studies at Cornell, UC Berkeley, and Imperial College London!
Challenges and Hurdles:
One main challenge that frequently arises in our projects is overcomplicating a solution. In the world of 2025, technology and knowledge are all around us. There will always be someone who has done something bigger, better, and in a more elegant manner. Moreover, with the advent of CAD, FEA, CFD, etc., it is easy to get stuck in a design loop. In our case, we got caught up debating which specific antenna would be best. It reached a point where our design was held back because we were stuck on whether an 8cm or an 8.5cm antenna was optimal. These design spirals are dangerous. It is vital to remember that not everything will be perfect; things will go wrong. In our case, the key solution was to break out of the design spiral and simply choose one antenna and roll with it. Was it the best? Probably not. Was it good enough? Definitely! At the end of the day, practical testing is key. A design will almost never go exactly as you intend, so the sooner you can gather real-world data, the better. Don’t let fancy computer graphics deceive you!
Impact and Conclusion:
Overall, we would like to sincerely thank RS for all their help. This project would literally not be possible without them! The components they provided are incredibly potent and specialized. You will definitely find that RS has everything you will ever need for any student engineering project. RS is also full of industry experts who are more than happy to help, all you need to do is ask! They have been invaluable to our success, and we are confident that if you are reading this, you will be invaluable to your own projects!
No matter what, whether you are a high schooler, a university student, or a graduate, DO IT! Let your imagination shine. RS is here to back you, and there are so many people who will want to help you! We at UCL Rocket are always happy to chat about any project you may want to undertake!
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