Learn how you can be the chief engineer and ground control crew for your own homemade rockets in this friendly workshop that makes rocket design accessible to everyone. No prior experience required, just bring your curiosity.
Rockets aren’t just for astronauts; they’re an approachable, creative hobby anyone can enjoy. We’ll cover the key ideas behind how rockets fly, show you the tools designers actually use, and finish by launching a simple bottle rocket as a group. It’s easier than you think, creative, and a really fun hobby to get into.
- Explain the basic principles of flight for rockets: lift, drag, stability, centre of mass vs. centre of pressure.
- Introduce structural mechanics at an amateur level to make a light, strong model.
- Give a friendly, non-technical primer on propulsion and the difference between reaction engines and water/air propulsion used in model rockets and bottle rockets.
- Introduce the free rocket design software OpenRocket and demonstrate how to model a simple rocket and make improvements.
- Talk through how a final small-scale design would be manufactured, tested, and safely launched.
This event is open to everyone including families, hobbyists, students, makers and the mildly curious. No technical background necessary. All participants under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Details and Bookings:
- Date: Tuesday 11 November
- Time: 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Cost: FREE
- Location: University College Cork, Kane Building, room G02
- Free Parking: UCC Visitor Car Park, Sunnyside Avenue (off Western Road)
- Public Transportation: 205. Alternatives: 220, 216, 208.
UCC ROCKETRY & SPACE EXPLORATION SOCIETY have a shared enthusiasm for designing, building and launching rockets, and provide real-world engineering experience to UCC students. They also host a full calendar of rocketry and space events through the year, including talks with NASA astronauts. At a competition earlier this year, the team launched Prometheus, their first high-powered rocket, reaching an altitude of 2,259 metres and a speed of 313 m/s… 90% the speed of sound.