The UL Aeronautical Society High-Powered Rocketry Team (ULAS HiPR), set up by aeronautical engineering graduate Daire O’Sullivan in November 2023, became the first-ever group to represent the Republic of Ireland at the European Rocketry Competition (EuRoC) held in Portugal last year.
Buoyed by this experience and others at competitions in the UK, the multidisciplinary team made up of 55 students from across the University hope to better previous results at two major rocketry competitions this year.
These are Mach 25, a university competition located in Machrihanish, Scotland, in July and EuRoC 2025 in Portugal in October.
Team spokesperson and third year product design student, Jay Looney, outlines how students with different skill sets are coming together to make their flight dream a reality, and some of the complexities involved in the project.
Outside of the technical skills required for the rockets’ construction, the team has recruited students from the Kemmy Business School to handle the team’s branding, marketing, communications and sponsorship of the project—giving it a University-wide footprint.
Marks are awarded during competitions for the rocket hitting a certain altitude, for the team’s technical report, the rocket’s in-flight performance, payload and teamwork. All of the testing the UL team can do prior to competition must be done without fuelling the rocket, with the only test flights taking place at competitions for safety reasons.
The team has two major sponsors, Atlantic Aviation Group—an aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul company based in Shannon—and Analog Devices, a global semiconductor manufacturer with a base in Limerick.
