The University of Waikato is blasting up to impressive heights with the Astronautics Club launching its rocket at the weekend.
The team of six students had a final lift off before heading to an international competition in Australia in August.
UWAC Club President Reuben Buckley, who is a third-year engineering student, said this will be their fourth launch of Takahe in North Waikato, before taking on other rockets in the outback of White Cliffs, New South Wales.
The Astronautics Club launched its rocket this weekend as they prepare to compete in Australia.
“We’ve entered the 10,000 feet category. Along with our goal of reaching that height, the judges will look at our technical reports beforehand, as well as the health and safety aspects of the launch.
“The closer you get to 10,000 feet, the more points there are to score. So, you don't want to go over or under.”
New Zealand rules only allow them to fly to 9,500 feet, so they’re limited when they do test flights on shore.
Waikato University is the only New Zealand team entered in the Australian Universities Rocketry Competition this year, but Reuben is expecting teams from not only Australia, but also Europe.
Next year they’re aiming for a 30,000 feet competition in America.
But for now, their focus is on the August flight, and the team is seeking sponsorship support to cover travel costs.
"The School of Engineering has been really supportive of our work and has funded things like construction costs. But, of course, there is the travel expense of getting our group to Australia and America and we would really welcome some support from the community.”
Sponsors would allow Reuben and the team to do more, especially with the current interest in anything space related.
“Our goal is to inspire young engineering students. We use astronautics as our vehicle to get them excited about engineering. But it also gives some really good experience they can put on their CV, and we've had people get jobs from it.”
Interest is growing with Reuben pointing out last year the beginner programme had 12 people sign on.
“This year we've had 40 sign-ups. We thought we'd probably see maybe 16 to 20 based on the larger first- year numbers. We weren't expecting that. So that was really cool.”
If people are interested in sponsoring the team, they should email general@uwac.nz
