Lifting off LURA’s rocketry academy at HELIX
Leeds University Rocketry Association (LURA) is the first student rocketry team in Leeds. Their mission is to prepare the Mars Generation by providing hands-on experience in designing and testing rockets.
Equipping students for the challenges of space travel design after graduation. One of LURA’s core goals is to encourage “hands on interdisciplinary engineering experience on real projects to push the limits of Amateur rocketry through innovation.”
HELIX hosted the two-week long project LURA Academy, where candidates divided into five teams of four to build water rockets. This challenge served as an assessment centre for prospect LURA candidates.
Location: HELIX Makerspace, 3D Filament Printing Workshop and Laser Cutter Workshop.
Aims: To challenge prospective candidates and assess their abilities.
Output: Twenty students-built water rockets with innovative designs, one of which achieved an altitude of 60 metres.
Impact: Students collaborated across disciplines, capturing a range of perspectives. This provided students with real life experiences, mirroring the experience of working in a professional environment.
Why did you choose HELIX for your project?
"At HELIX, you have access to 3D printers, machinery, and lots of types of tools. There was also a lot of room for the teams to work in."
How did working at HELIX help you achieve your aims?
"HELIX staff were very helpful in getting members inducted and teaching them how to use the equipment available. Working at HELIX made the project easy to complete as it provided every team with the same and adequate set of resources needed, and the Makerspace gave everyone the room to create things. This made our project much easier to complete."
Do you have any advice to share from your HELIX experience?
"HELIX was great. As for general advice: plan ahead thoroughly, have a clear layout of the task at hand and consider both quantitive and qualitative methods of assessing performance. Make sure to take notes and record data continuously throughout the project."
Explore HELIX for your next project and discover the tools to bring your visions to life.