Chasing a UK liquid launch: University of Sheffield’s bid shows the promise of the student rocketry scene

For UK rocket teams looking to test hardware in the US, the margins for error are slim. The University of Sheffield’s student-led rocketry team, Project Sunride, knows this well: it had only a week in the US to launch Karman Charlie, a high-altitude two-stage rocket, on its latest mission. The aim: to pave the way for one day passing the Karman line – the dividing line between the Earth’s atmosphere and space, 100 kilometres above sea level.

When the team arrived at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site in the Mojave Desert in June 2025 to ready the rocket for launch, not everything had gone to plan. Not all of the components had been delivered, so the team scrambled to source them from suppliers. Fortunately, the vendors understood the constraints.

“It’s not like we could come back the next month and try again, like teams from the US,” says Alyssa Parris, the team’s Director. And then on the planned launch day, the winds were too high to launch. Everything relied on the backup launch day, a Sunday. Luckily by Sunday the winds had dropped, but the team was feeling the extra heat at the launchpad. “The weather does get to you.”

Unanticipated issues saw the team lowering the launch rail several times, but eventually, they managed it. Karman Charlie flew to 17,000 feet (over 5 kilometres), with its sustainer returning to Earth undamaged and capturing footage of the desert below.

“Even though it wasn't exactly the outcome that the team hoped for, we still definitely made progress in the sense that we recovered half of our rocket unscathed,” says Alyssa. “We got some beautiful camera footage for the first time from a high-altitude launch in the team's recent history, and it was something we learnt a lot from.”

A dizzying array of rocketry projects

For the uninitiated, the number of rocketry projects Project Sunride is working on might seem overwhelming.

For starters, there’s the choice of propellant: solid or liquid? UK student rocketry teams primarily fly solid-fuelled rockets, as you can buy them off-the-shelf and load them into an airframe. While manufacturing and flying your own solid rocket propellant is against the law, student teams can design their own liquid rockets. Among the advantages of liquid rockets are that they offer more thrust per unit weight of propellant burned. The trade-off is that they’re more complex – a different challenge and learning opportunity for student rocketry teams.

The team’s crowning achievements so far are launching the UK’s first student liquid rocket, Desert Winds, in 2024 in the Mojave Desert, and firing Sunfire V, the most efficient student liquid rocket engine in the world. Desert Winds was the first liquid rocket launched by any UK organisation (including aerospace companies) since the Black Arrow programme in the 1970s. Desert Winds broke the European amateur liquid altitude record and soared to nearly 27,000 feet. Sunfire V is a 3D printed copper engine that burns cryogenic propellant and cools the combustion chamber with water. In November 2025, it achieved a combustion efficiency of 96.4% and a specific impulse of 246 seconds.

There’s the Karman Series (of which Karman Charlie is the third), which aims to eventually surpass the Karman line with strategic design iteration. And there’s Ariel, a two-stage rocket housing a research payload designed to measure UV ray intensity at altitude.

For all of these rockets, the team also develop the electronics in-house and face rapid turnarounds when testing. Project Sunride’s members complete the designs, and then manufacturers supply 3D-printed or prototyped parts, occasionally sponsored.

Geography and regulation shape ambition

One thing that has historically held back the UK’s rocketry teams is our densely populated landmass and lack of bigger launch sites. Hobbyist clubs dotted around the country work well for testing, but “when it comes to bigger high-altitude launches, it is a challenge for students to access those, given that student teams change with every academic year and knowledge leaves with graduates,” says Alyssa. “Each year, momentum is slightly hindered by half of the team leaving university, which can put long term projects at risk.”

It is easier for US university teams to head to the middle of the Mojave Desert. The UK student teams that are lucky enough to receive the support, occasionally opt to head to California.

“The drift radius of the rocket that we will launch in America will be so massive that it isn't really possible to launch it from the UK without recovering the rocket from the sea, and submitting a safety case to the Civil Aviation Authority, which adds to a project timeline,” explains Alyssa.

Leeds University’s student team is one exception, having secured a license for a large rocket in June 2025.

Equipping graduates for aerospace jobs

Aside from being a passion project for students fascinated by space, the team also helps to prepare graduates for employment.

“Our mission as a team is to take our members and train them in more hands-on skills that will make them better graduates,” says Alyssa. At trade shows, representatives from large aerospace firms have told Project Sunride members that applicants are short on practical skills.  

As well as the prospect of boosting their employability, students at the Freshers’ Fair are often sold on joining the team as Alyssa likes to ask people if they want to hold a rocket engine that's been to nearly 27,000 feet. “That's always a winner.”

Alyssa is quick to emphasise the “incredible support system” built by the University of Sheffield’s staff. “I'm not sure it's something that's common across different universities and I think it should be. There's a lot of support that they give us with managing our finances and health and safety, which you can imagine is extensive when you have things with flames coming out of them,” she adds.

Next up for the team and the scene

The team is returning to the Mojave Desert in June 2026 to  launch three altitude record attempts, including a second flight of Karman Charlie.

“Of all of the projects that we've undertaken, maybe our biggest achievement is that undertaking of everything we have under our umbrella,” says Alyssa. “Currently we're managing to cover so many bases with the work that we're doing, whether it's more experimental technologies or liquid propulsion systems.”

As Director, Alyssa hopes for a successful launch of their Black Adder liquid rocket from UK soil – which could be another first. “It would be really, really cool to see the first UK-launched liquid rocket. I am definitely hoping for that one.”

But no matter the outcome of Black Adder, the team’s experiences in the Mojave Desert so far have been enough. “There aren't a lot of students that get this opportunity at all, I just felt incredibly lucky. We'd worked very hard to get there each year that we had gone. I just kind of stood there thinking, the team's done it, we're here. That's something to feel immensely proud of.”

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