The Mission
LURA’s bold reattempt of taking Gryphon II (G2) to the skies once again, with the goal of breaking the UKRA Altitude Record. Featuring a reoptimised design, targeted for an apogee of 50,000 feet, our ultimate goal was to finish G2’s story by proving we could build a dynamically stable, record-breaking rocket.
Project Timeline
Started Project
Preliminary Design Review
Critical Design Review
SARA Test Launch
Cape Wrath Record Launch
Test Launch
The test launch at SARA proved that our small dedicated team of engineers were fit to execute the grueling journey to a future launch at Cape Wrath. It proved we could transport, set up, and launch the full system unaided with the rail, rocket, and recovery boat behind a single vehicle.
Test launch Results
The rocket flew well, hitting 720m apogee and 111 m/s at burnout, and the avionics held up through a peak of 19g.
A wiring fault caused the parachutes to deploy at the wrong altitude, shredding both canopies and costing us our “Fat Buoy Slim” recovery buoy.
The rocket came home in one piece and with fixed wiring and tightened pre-flight checks, we were ready to take on our record launch at Cape Wrath.
TEST launch Footage
Record-attempt launch
This launch was our second every journey to Cape Wrath. Getting the rocket off the rail was a true test of endurance. Between a grueling 12 hour drive, challenging weather conditions, and brutal lessons learnt on the day, our team proved that the only thing tougher than the elements, was our determination.
We’ve never seen a more relentless team look at a wall of obstacles and choose to push straight through them just to get this rocket airborne.
In the end a GPS tracking failure resulted in us most likely being unable to recover Gryphon II Block II, but we do not mistake lost hardware for a failed mission.
Find out more from our BBC interview.
The real success of G2B2 is measured by the engineering milestones achieved by our team, surviving the intense motor burnout of the O-class motor with a beautifully straight ascent and exceeding Mach 2. We achieved what we set out to do, we built a rocket that flew flawlessly.
We couldn’t have done any of this without everyone who helped make this project possible. Specifically, we are incredibly grateful to Chris Brown, UKRA, the CAA, and the MOD staff at Cape Wrath for their indispensable support, and to Ben Adams for capturing amazing shots of the day.
Student-led engineering initiatives like LURA have proven to be valuable, but often face funding challenges.
Help support LURA’s long-term projects by donating to our Crowdfunder.
Your donations will directly fund the critical components for LURA’s projects including the avionics, recovery system, aerostructures, flight dynamics, as well as the complicated logistics involved with fuelling our rockets to high-altitudes from British soil.