Students from across the country set unofficial world record at Aylesbury Vale business park during rocket engine project

Students set an unofficial world record during a space project week at a hi-tech business park in Aylesbury Vale.

Young adults from across the UK came together for the ‘Race to Space’ competition at Westcott Venture Park.

They set an unofficial world record for the number of different hybrid/liquid rocket engines hot-fired for the first time on one site in one week.

Over a four-day period students’ rocket engines all underwent their maiden test firing as part of a new national competition to boost space skills.

It is claimed that the competition organised by the University of Sheffield was the first of its kind worldwide to focus on the testing of bi-propellant

and hybrid rocket engines.

Students from 10 universities took part in the UK Race to Space event, where the rocket engines they had designed and built were fired up on a test stand at Westcott Space Cluster to test how much thrust they produced.

Southampton University won the competition, students representing the institution produced the most accurate thrust.

Sheffield University students also broke national records, by successfully testing the first 3D printed, first regen-cooled and most powerful student-built liquid rocket engine in the UK.

Prizes were also awarded to Leeds, Sheffield and Cambridge for best team spirit, best presentation, and best documentation respectively.

The week ended last Friday with a Student Rocket Engine Symposium - a space sector education networking event where academics, students and industry came together to see the results of the competition.

Alistair John, deputy director of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Sheffield, who organised the competition, said: “UK Race to Space is about showing we have top class students who are willing, able and prepared to grow the space sector in the UK and we have more than proved that this week.

“We know we have the talent but to compete on the world stage we need to increase the number of passionate, highly skilled graduates with hands-on skills entering the sector. This initiative is helping to provide the critical training and access to practical testing needed to fill the high-level skills gap and provide world-class expertise.”

It is also hoped the competition will inspire a more diverse range of students from school age upwards to choose science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects and aim for careers in the rapidly growing space sector.

Matt Peachey, head of Enterprise Zone Development at Buckinghamshire LEP, which helped fund the project, added: “We are pleased to provide sponsorship to support this event which is an important step towards increasing the skillset and knowledge of students to generate a pipeline of talent for the space industry.

“This sponsorship demonstrates our commitment to developing the skills of the next generation of engineers and inspiring them to pursue space science and engineering careers in Buckinghamshire.”

The Westcott-based companies who were critical to helping the students test fire their engines were European Astrotech, Protolaunch and Airborne Engineering.

Chris Smith, managing director of European Astrotech, said: “It’s fantastic to be involved in something that increases the skillset and knowledge of students to generate a pipeline of talent for the industry."