ROCKETRY
The StrathAIS rocketry team is a part of Strathclyde Aerospace Innovation Society (StrathAIS), the University of Strathclyde’s largest aerospace society.
With the rocketry team being created in 2021, the team has entered IREC every year since 2022, competing in the 10K COTS category each time. The rocketry team has seen a year-on-year increase in popularity with 95 members in the recent year.
We recently took part in the 2025 International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC), hosted in Midland Texas, USA. Involving over 150 student teams from collages and universities over the world, it allows students the opportunity to compete and collaborate in a world class event.
Following a nominal flight at IREC 2024, the team decided to step up to the 30K COTS category for the first time.
OUR ROCKETS
OUR LATEST, “TARANIS“
Due to entering IREC 2025 with “Taranis“ into a higher category for the first time, the design is very different to previous entries while continuing to build on lessons learned over the years.
Taranis is composed of four primary subsystems: Structures, Propulsion & Recovery, Payload, and Avionics. The rocket featured an SRAD flight computer and GPS built by the avionics team, a scientific payload that aimed to gather in-flight data to allow for more informed design choices for further years, an aluminium boat tail for improved aerodynamic performance and was flown on an Aerotech O5500 motor.
Unfortunately, due to a CATO caused by a motor malfunction, we were ineligible to receive points from our flight performance score .
Overall, we placed 102nd out of the 159 teams that competed and 12th out of 21 in our category (30K COTS), a great achievement for our first attempt! For our technical report, we scored 191/200. This placed us 2nd in our category, and 6th overall in the competition, a testament to the hard work and discipline from the team throughout the year.
ROCKET CHARACTERISTICS
3.51 m | 11.5 ft
133 mm | 5.24 in
9,690 m | 31,791 ft
1.77
608 m/s | 1360 mph
238 m/s^2 | 780.8 ft/s^2
34.9 kg | 76.9 lbs
400 s
2.78 cal
HEIGHT
DIAMETER
APOGEE
MACH NO.
MAX VELOCITY
MAX ACCELERATION
TOTAL MASS
TOTAL FLIGHT TIME
STABILITY
FEATURES
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3D PRINTED ONYX NOSECONE REINFORCED WITH A CARBON FIBRE SKIN
IN-HOUSE MANUFACTURED 5 LAYER FIBREGLASS AIRFRAME
4 TAPERED SWEPT CARBON FIBRE FINS
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AVIONICS 4 BAY DESIGN HOLDING SRAD FLIGHT COMPUTER AND EASYMINI COTS FC
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10ft MAIN HIGH DRAG TOROIDAL ANNULAR PARACHUTE
4ft DROUGE PARACHUTE
O5500X-PS ROCKET MOTOR | TOTAL IMPULSE OF 21,348Ns
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2KG FUNCTIONAL NON-DEPLOYABLE SCIENTIFIC PAYLOAD HOLDING VARIOUS FLIGHT SENSORS
PREVIOUS ROCKETS
MK. III
The Mk. III was the last of the “STRATHOSPHERE“ family, first starting development in 2023 after another successful year at the Spaceport America Cup using the Mk. II.
Carrying the momentum forward, the Mk. III was entered into the 10K COTS category of the 2024 IREC Spaceport America Cup which resulted in the best result the Rocketry Team has seen, placing 9th in our category!
MK. II
Our second rocket in the Level 3 Strathosphere family, the MK II first started development in 2021 after our first year at the Spaceport America Cup.
The MK II was entered into the same 10K COTS category of the 2023 IREC Spaceport America Cup which achieved great results from the previous year.
MK. I
Our first rocket in the Level 3 Strathosphere family, the MK I was a major milestone after years of planning and research consisting of only 19 members.
Entering for the first time into the 10K COTS category of the 2022 IREC Spaceport America Cup our team managed a successful launch and recovery. Marking a huge milestone in the teams history.