Recovery
Dual-deployment parachutes and the sequencing that brings the vehicle back intact.
Recovery runs dual deployment: a drogue chute at apogee to slow the descent, then the main parachute lower down to cut drift and bring the airframe down intact. Black powder charges, triggered by signals from Avionics, fire both stages. Deployment currently rides on commercial hardware, a Featherweight Blue Raven altimeter as primary with an EasyMini as backup, alongside a Featherweight GPS for tracking. The subteam also writes the simulation code that predicts apogee and terminal velocity under different parachute sizes, and checks those predictions against real launch data. Recovery also did the mechanical design for the airbrakes flown on Nimbus and Osiris.
First year
Help pack and inspect a parachute, and shadow a ground deployment test using black powder charges. No pyrotechnics experience needed; the process is taught on the team.
Useful, not required
Comfort with basic electronics and wiring, and some Python or MATLAB if you want to work on the simulation code. CAD helps for chute bays and shock cord mounts. 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.
Avionics
Flight computers and telemetry: embedded firmware and PCB design in KiCad. This subteam decides when every event on the flight fires.
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.
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.