Oryx Digital sponsored crew wins gold at Worldwide Rocketry Problem

The Ridgeway Rocket Membership crew of Ben Wigley, Sanjay Bala and (my son) John Brice, received the Worldwide Youth Rocketry Problem on the Paris Airshow final week. After beating 180 different UK groups at UKROC to qualify, they then beat one of the best groups from the USA, France and Japan. I sponsored and mentored the crew this 12 months and the 12 months earlier than. The crew positioned ninth total within the UK at their first try, final 12 months. Airbus was the principle sponsor for UKROC and their journey to Paris.

The rocket was designed and constructed from scratch by the crew, with numerous 3d printer and laser reduce elements. The highest tube is a Pringles can (robust, low-cost and filled with yummy pringles)! We used a Cesseroni F Basic stable gasoline motor for the launch.

The outcomes had been scored on a mix of flight (60%) and technical presentation (40%).

The flight mission was for the rocket to achieve 850 ft, break up into 2 sections and land the nostril part in 42 to 45 seconds with an intact uncooked egg. The UK crew managed 872 ft peak and ~38 seconds period with an intact egg. A French policewoman by accident elbowed the rocket on the way in which to the launch, so it was a great job they made the fins tremendous robust!

The UK crew obtained a powerful 58 out of a attainable 60 factors on the presentation.

I’m very pleased with what the boys achieved and it was such an incredible expertise. VIP the whole lot and the crew obtained to satisfy and shake arms with the French Primer Minister, numerous French cupboard members and 5 astronauts, together with NASA astronauts Charley Duke (who walked on the moon and commanded the lunar module on Apollo 16) and Mike Bloomfield.

They managed to get Mike Bloomfield to signal a rocket fin earlier than the launch. In addition they obtained to satisfy a load of different attention-grabbing individuals from rocketry, aerospace, the US armed forces and from the opposite groups. One other spotlight was a private tour of an Apache gunship helicopter by the US Military (I’m so glad we’re on the identical facet!).

Our launch:

Our onboard video from the launch:

Yesterday we obtained to enter the home of commons to point out off the rocket and the crew met numerous individuals together with: house scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, our member of parliament and the Minister of State for Schooling. There can’t be many individuals who’ve taken a rocket into the home of commons!

Subsequent month they’ve a VIP tour of the Airbus manufacturing unit at Stevenage. The crew has additionally been interviewed by the native BBC radio station.

Earlier than getting concerned in UKROC my son needed to do one thing technical, however he wasn’t positive what. Now he has determined he desires to do Aerospace engineering at College. Ben can be contemplating an aerospace profession. Sanjay desires to be a company lawyer, perhaps for an aerospace firm. I’m positive it has additionally obtained a variety of different individuals desirous about aerospace careers. So a particular consequence for the sponsors. A giant thanks to everybody who makes the UKROC and Worldwide Rocketry Problem competitions occur, together with: ADS Group, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, NAR, AIA and all of the volunteers.

If you’re within the UK, USA, France or Japan, why not enter a crew in 2024? It’s a improbable technique to get youngsters concerned in a difficult STEM undertaking. And in case you are trying to make use of a rocket engineer a number of years from now, drop me a line!