Epsom’s Team Cassiopiea – Ciara, Kiki, Olivia, Xanthe, Yubien and Zoe – were invited to compete in the National Youth Rocketry finals this week, having made it through regional qualifiers. Only the top 20 teams – from a field of more than 200 schools, colleges and youth clubs – made it to the finals. This is a huge achievement, which places Epsom in the top 10% in the UK.
The winner of the event, hosted at the home of the British Model Flying Association in Buckminster, would go on to represent the UK at the International Final in Paris later in June.
Following the briefing, the team set about preparing their rocket for launch. This year’s challenge was to launch a rocket weighing less than 650 grams, to an altitude of 780 feet, with a flight time of no more than 46 seconds. The rocket had a payload of two medium-sized eggs seated in the astronaut position in the larger upper section of the rocket.
The girls then headed to the launch pad… Cassiopeia glistening in the sun as she was loaded onto the launch pad whilst the team nervously waited.
After a successful launch, Cassiopeia shot up into the sky. After apogee, the parachutes deployed and the rocket returned to Earth with a slight bump… the team collected her and the performance was logged. The altitude was a little too high, scoring 51 points; but the flight time was perfect at 46 seconds.
Next, the team had to present to a panel of three rocketry experts on their design, build, what they had learnt from the process, as well as answering any questions.
The girls did superbly well and were commended in their feedback for their logbook detailing their journey as well as their in-depth explanations and presentation skills, seeing them achieve the third highest score.
Unfortunately, combining their scores, and with an egg breaking, meant they did not get into the top three and a chance to fly off to win a place at the International final.
Well done to Ciara, Kiki, Olivia, Xanthe, Yubien and Zoe for all their efforts and it was such a great achievement to make it into the top 20 of the UK’s 200+ entries.
The competition will return next year, this will be open to the Year 10 and Lower Sixth, offering budding engineers and STEM enthusiasts the chance to take part.
Thank you to Dr Telfer-Mason and Mr Johnson for all their work guiding and preparing the teams this year and to Mrs Buhagiar for accompanying the team to the National Finals.
