My first attempt at a custom medium-power rocket. It flew an Aerotech G80T motor, and reached about Mach 0.5 according to simulations. The nosecone and fin assemblies were designed in Solidworks and 3D printed. I flew this rocket at an event in Southern Washington with the UBCO rocketry team.

On Tuesday, August 19th, 2025, just outside of Timmins, ON., at the Launch Canada Competition. UBCO Aerospace’s rocketry division successfully launched and recovered the HYDRA Mini rocket. Flying to an altitude of 1652m (~5400ft), and reaching a maximum speed of 173.96m/s (~Mach 0.5). This launch marked historic firsts:

- The first clustered hybrid rocket launched from Canadian soil

- The first non-commercial team, possibly worldwide, to launch a clustered hybrid rocket

At ignition, we successfully lit our central Contrail M1491 hybrid engine alongside a J642 booster, with two additional boosters air-starting moments later. This sequence led to the shearing of the launch lugs and subjected the rocket to an incredible 21.2 Gs of peak drag deceleration off the rail. Thanks to the robust design of our fibreglass and carbon fibre composite aerostructure, the rocket held strong and corrected its trajectory with the two boosters air-starting, demonstrating the resilience of our design and testing.

I also made our recap video! Check it out here.

This project aims to build and fly a small “hopper” test vehicle, as a stepping stone towards more complex propulsive landing projects. To get around the constraint of solid rocket motors being typically unable to throttle, the vehicle will utilize two Thrust Vector Control (TVC) gimbals. In order to increase/decrease the net vertical thrust, the two gimbals can both pitch inward or outward, with the resulting horizontal force components cancelling out. Additionally, the TVC can provide roll, pitch, and yaw control. By using Apogee F10 motors, we can achieve a maximum flight time of 7 seconds. This vehicle aims to serve as a VTVL testbed, developing experience and knowledge towards future active control, flight computers, and propulsive landing projects. A key aspect of the design is modularity and flexibility, allowing the frame and any other hardware developed to be used in future projects. For this year, the end goal is to demonstrate a controlled hop at the Launch Canada 2026 Tech Development Challenge.