To the Stars: ANU Rocketry’s Quest for an Australian First

Written by: Finn Slattery-O’Brien

ANU Rocketry is a student-run society of around 100 members all working towards one ultimate goal: to be the first team in Australia to send a rocket into space using their own in-house manufactured liquid fuel.

The society was founded in 2018 to compete in the Australian Universities Rocket Competition (AURC) and has since grown considerably in both popularity and size. 

Observer interviewed ANU Rocketry’s Technical Director Mady Hall to get a better sense of the team that hopes to lead Australia in reaching space. According to Hall, Rocketry has had around 40 new members join this semester alone.

According to their website, ANU Rocketry’s vision is  “[d]eveloping a self-sufficient team through a pipeline of certified members to ensure we can consistently launch high-powered rockets at intervarsity competitions.” 

ANU Rocketry’s vision has been reframed towards the society’s primary goal of designing, constructing and testing a rocket capable of reaching space. But how does Rocketry define a goal that, at first glance, may seem somewhat arbitrary?

Rocketry aims to reach what is officially and internationally recognised as the end of the atmosphere, known as the Kármán Line, some 100 kilometres above the Earth’s surface. This is the point where the physical conditions governing rocket propulsion change; the rocket can no longer be reliant on the lift generated by the atmosphere as the air is far too thin.

The UN also recognised it as the boundary of space and the height at which domestic sovereignty ceases, instead becoming something more legally similar to international waters.

While the team is still in the testing stages of smaller rockets, they expect the final, space-worthy product to reach over 20 metres in height. 

Testing these rockets is no small task. Using their personal vehicles, the Rocketry team, along with all their sub-teams, has to work in conjunction over three days to make sure this vital step of the design process occurs. Allowing a day on either side for the significant travel time to either rural NSW or Victoria (near Bendigo), they usually spend a single day assembling and testing the rocket before returning home.

However, this steady progress is not without its complications and hurdles. Rocketry did unfortunately have to pull out of the Spaceport America Cup, scheduled for the 17-22 June this year and held in southern New Mexico. 

The Cup is an American international, intercollegiate rocketry competition, however,  due to a severe shortage in certain specialist motors for rocket testing, ANU was unable to be represented in the competition this year.

Budgeting issues combined with “motor shortages coming in from the US” (something which has also been impacting a lot of other rocketry teams across the field), this meant that such a trip was neither financially nor logistically feasible. 

Despite these setbacks, Hall is confident that Rocketry can make the most of the situation, and feels that to some extent, it may increase the team’s motivation towards their clear result.

She emphasised that “all of our sub-teams in tech are moving towards research projects that are specifically aligned to higher altitudes and within space.” 

The renewed focus on space means that much of the work done at Rocketry is also “a cool way for people to… work on projects that can really align with the curriculum”. In this way, Rocketry allows students to gain valuable practical experience towards their degree and also creates an environment which allows students to better complete their coursework at the same time. 

Either way, it’s surely an exciting time to be a part of the team as ANU Rocketry continues their journey towards space.

Graphics by: Annisa Zatalini

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