Avionics
Flight computers and telemetry: embedded firmware and PCB design in KiCad. This subteam decides when every event on the flight fires.
Avionics builds the flight computer stack: the sensors that tell the rocket where it is, the logic that decides when to fire each event, and the telemetry that gets the data back to the ground. Competition rules require a commercial altimeter and GPS as the primary flight computer, currently a Blue Raven paired with a Featherweight GPS. Alongside that, the subteam designs its own SRAD boards in KiCad, such as Void Lake, which fly as backup. There is also mechanical work if you want it: mounts, harnesses, and how boards and wiring sit in the airframe. If you have written code before, this is the fastest place on the team to see your work fly. If you have not, this is where a lot of us learned.
First year
Shadow a flight-computer build, start a board in KiCad, wire and test one sensor, and help run a ground test. No prior hardware experience assumed.
Useful, not required
C or Python, KiCad, a soldering iron you are not afraid of, and any exposure to control theory. CAD helps if you want to work on how boards and wiring attach to the internal structure. We teach the rest.
About 6 h / week
Every other subteam.
Each one takes members with no experience every term.
Airframe
Structures and aerodynamics: simulation, analysis, CAD and machining. The airframe has to survive peak loading and come back straight.
Composites
Carbon and fibreglass layup, tooling, and the finishing that makes it fly straight.
Operations
Graphic design, merch, and social media. What people see when they have never set foot in the shop.
Payload
The experiment we fly, and most years the reason the rocket exists at all. CAD, electrical and software all sit on it.
Propulsion
Motor integration, thrust curves, and Icarus: our in-house hybrid engine in development alongside the commercial motors we fly today.
Recovery
Dual-deployment parachutes and the sequencing that brings the vehicle back intact.
Who runs it.
Named leads, so you know who to ask.
We hire first years.
We hire people who have never touched a rocket. Come ready to learn. We'll teach the rest.
Find us at Facultyfest on August 31, 12:30 to 17:00, or Clubsfest on September 14, 16:30 to 19:30 on the JHE field. Applications close September 18. You don't need to be an engineer: we need people on operations as much as on airframe.