Rocketry

Rocketry was the very first activity ManSEDS ever ran. Our journey began in 2014, when a small team entered the National Rocketry Championship (NRC) for the first time. That early project laid the foundations for everything that followed, and over the past decade, rocketry has grown into our largest and most active department, involving more students, more launches, and more engineering than any other part of the society.

Today, our Rocketry Department designs, builds, and launches a wide range of vehicles, from small training rockets to high‑power systems and supersonic experimental flights. We run regular launch days, support schools through UKROC outreach, and provide students with hands‑on experience in stability, aerodynamics, electronics, recovery systems, and safe launch operations. We are also unique in being able to offer independent launch opportunities for testing rockets before competitions, with full infrastructure, risk assessments, and insurance already in place.

Why Rocketry Is Great for Students

Rocketry gives students a rare chance to work on real flight hardware at university level. It helps develop:

• hands‑on engineering skills in design, construction, testing, and launch operations

• teamwork and leadership, working in fast‑paced project environments

• problem‑solving and iteration, learning how to diagnose issues and improve designs

• confidence with real aerospace systems, from electronics to aerodynamics

• experience that directly supports careers in engineering, physics, robotics, and space science

Most importantly, rocketry is exciting, there’s nothing quite like watching something you built take off into the sky.