NU Rocketry

28/09/2026

With the Australian University Rocketry Competition (AURC) right around the corner, NU Rocketry wishes to introduce The Helios Project.

For the first time, NU Rocketry has implemented a junior engineering project. This project is to help teach junior engineers about the ins-and-outs of building competition rockets and navigating a competition platform.

Our junior engineering project is the Helios rocket and team comprised of 3 amazing junior engineers with the aim to compete in the 5,000ft category at AURC 2026.

This team is testing new limits with building NU Rocketry’s first ever competition rocket with single separation, dual deployment by implementing a dual redundant Tender Descender system into Helios.

With the support of all of NU Rocketry behind Helios. This team is going to soar to new heights.

Good luck at AURC.

17/08/2026

NU Rocketry introduces our latest project, ‘Wedgetail.’

In June, a team of NU Rocketry members and a technical advisor went to Texas, USA to compete in the 2026 International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC).

This rocket displays the ongoing innovation and development that NU Rocketry strives for. Wedgetail marks a significant milestone in our history by being the first competition rocket to integrate a student research project separate to payload.

NU Rocketry would like to give a massive thanks to ESRA for organising and running IREC and our sponsors and industry partners, as well as, all the friends, family and everyone in NUTeams and University of Newcastle for their ongoing love and support.

A massive appreciation goes to all those that helped make this rocket a reality by putting in a lot of hard work and long hours to accomplish the final product, Wedgetail.

The Structures department is responsible for the rocket’s airframe, both inside and out. Most components, like body tubes are manufactured in house using fibreglass and carbon fibre for its strength and weight with extensive material testing occurring on all components to ensure they withstand the forces seen during flight.

The Recovery department is in charge of ensuring the rocket has a safe descent. All recovery hardware is selected and tested to ensure it is able to endure all flight forces. Avionics stacks are designed to be easily integrable and effectively house flight computers.

The payload is a Thermoelectric Temperature control system. The system was designed with the intention of minimal moving parts to increase reliability in harsh conditions. During the competition, we experienced a data corruption event and were not able to determine the success of the system.

This airbrake was developed from the work of previous members and designed with the purpose of slowing the rocket down during flight to target a specific apogee. During a flight test the airbrake successfully gathered significant amounts of data that will aid future progress of the system however failed to activate entirely resulting in it being disabled at competition.

A small group of NU Rocketry members journe

24/12/2025

2025 NURocketry recap!!

As 2025 comes to an end we wanted to share everything the team has accomplished this year.

NURocketry successfully tested the teams first 1.1kN hybrid propulsion system at the UK race 2 space competition.

The team had the opportunity to compete in AURC this year. The team competed in the 10k COTS category and placed first in this category reaching 10,068ft, a huge success for the team. The team also received the best new team award, best sportsmanship award and overall winner. 

This year the team welcomed upwards of 20 new junior students, all of whom successfully constructed a rocket with an electronic payload and launched it to 250m.

From everyone at NURocketry we wish you all a merry Christmas and a very happy new year.🎄🚀

16/12/2025

These rockets live to fly another day 🚀

A huge congratulations to all members who successfully launched and recovered their rocket this weekend achieving a certification.

The 2025 December Whalan launch was a massive success with 7 people achieving their MPR certification.

Left to Right:

Benjamin: flying Dracula

Mikael: flying Lucy

Alex: flying Kaspr

Aisling: flying Pegasus

Daanish: flying Atlas

Skander: flying 'tis the rocket

Layla: flying Wile E. Cyote

25/12/2023

Merry Christmas! ⭐🎄

Wishing you safe and successful launches, and easy recoveries, over the holiday season!

With lots of love ❤️,
- NU Rocketry

07/12/2023

Welcome to our new Industry Partner, Australian Electrical Vehicle Specialists! Aus EVS brings the latest EV technology from around the world, along with the know-how to help you transition to a rapidly changing future.

Whether you want to convert your classic car to electric or transition your fleet of trucks and vans to zero emissions with an efficient network of chargers, Australian EVS can assist.

14/11/2023

NU Teams held their annual expo last Friday! 🤩 NU Rocketry showed off their platforms Pioneer and Phantom which were successfully launched and recovered in October this year. 🚀

16/10/2023

08/10/2023

DAY 2 RE-CAP of NU Rocketry at the 2023 Mullaley Launch Event! 📹 🚀

On day 2, NU Rocketry SUCCESSFULLY launched and recovered their 'Phantom' rocket platform (L3 - 10K ft). 'Phantom' is the most MOST POWERFUL platform the team has ever flown! Having successfully tested their latest telemetry and flight computer setup the day before, the 'Phantom' rocket platform performed spectacularly! 🚀

📣 BIG shout out to all former and current NU Rocketry team members who contributed to this platform. Your dedication and hard work on this platform has paid off and has the team 'over the moon'! 🌝

The University of Newcastle, Australia

05/10/2023

We were thrilled to visit our industry partner, DSI underground, for a site tour this week with our friends from NU Rocketry and NU Marine. Our students were particularly excited about their automated manufacturing, happening right here in the Hunter. Thank you for having us!