Gyrocket

Fortunately, this year’s competition was back to normal after COVID-19. The winners were team Gyrocket from the University of Bristol! Their distinctive orange rocket’s payload used an autorotation-based alternative recovery system. Two spring-loaded carbon fibre blades popped out of the top of the body tube instead of a parachute. This was controlled by an autogyro-inspired direct control mechanism to allow for it to guide itself autonomously back to the launch pad. They also made a great video for their awards day presentation that documented their whole design, build and launch process.