Space Events

UKRoC winners Tonbridge School to represent UK in IRC at FIA

Posted 25 May 2018

Tonbridge School’s team ‘Rocketon’ have won the national final of the UK Youth Rocketry Challenge (UKRoC) to earn a place representing the UK and competing against students from the USA, Japan and France at the International Rocketry Challenge (IRC) being held at the Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) in July.

Above: The 'Rocketon' team.
Courtesy ADS

The runners-up were Sweyne Park School from Rayleigh, Essex and Abbeyfield School from Chippenham.

Winners and runners-up from regional finals across the UK competed in Grantham, Lincolnshire to become the national winner of UKRoC. Now in its 12th year, the Rocketry Challenge is designed to encourage innovation, collaboration and creativity amongst students aged 11 – 18.

ADS Chief Executive Paul Everitt said: “Congratulations to Rocketon for winning the UK national final and I am looking forward to seeing them representing the UK at international rocketry competition final at the Farnborough International Airshow. It has been great to see so many schools competing in what has been our largest UK Youth Rocketry Challenge to date.

“In the year of engineering, we hope that hosting the international final during futures day at Farnborough will inspire more students to take up the exciting career opportunities in our industries.”

The competing teams had to design and build a rocket, working with strict measurement conditions and a target altitude of 775 feet, with the aim of ensuring the ‘passengers’ - two raw eggs - remained intact throughout the launch and landing. Teams of up to ten gained an insight into the design, engineering and testing process used by those working in the aerospace and space industries. The target duration for the second flight at the national final was 1 second less or 1 second more; this was determined by a coin toss at the student team pre-flight briefing at the Finals.

Chris Powell, Physics Teacher at Tonbridge School, said: “The UK Youth Rocketry Competition is a fantastic opportunity for young people to learn about rocket science and put it into action in a fun and exciting manner.

“I would recommend it to anyone who thinking about entering.”

UKRoC is organised by ADS Group, UK trade organisation for space and aerospace industries, supported by the Royal Aeronautical Society and sponsored by Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space.