Welcome to the QUB Aerospace Society!
Since 2023, we have been enabling students at Queen’s University Belfast to fulfil their dreams of one day having a career in the growing space industry. We are more than just a student rocketry team, we are a source of information and guidance, a platform for giving students a voice and above all, an outlet for students’ passion about all things space.
The QUB Aerospace Society provides opportunities for students to get involved in real-world projects, from designing and building rockets to competing in national and international competitions though our team: Queen's Propulsion Laboratory (QPL).
The society also hosts industry talks, workshops, and networking events, helping members gain valuable skills and insights into the space industry.
Our engineering team, QPL competes across 3 key disciplines each year: rocketry, robotics and propulsion:
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RocketryFor the past 2 years, we have attended the Mach-X rocketry competition at Machrihanish Airbase in Scotland each summer. The team has designed, built, launched and recovered successfully, flying to altitudes of 1300m and 2200m with exciting and innovative payloads on board each year. At Mach-25, the team placed an impressive 3rd in category thanks to lots of hard work from the whole team involved. |
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RoboticsQPL also has a robotics division which enters at the UKSEDS Olympus Rover Trials, the UK’s largest rover competition. In our first year of operations, QPL won the overall prize for the Beginners Stream and followed that up with a high placement and the best outreach award in the Advanced Stream a year later. |
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PropulsionThe ‘p’ in QPL stands for propulsion and we are proud to be the first team on the island of Ireland to have designed, manufactured and fired a liquid rocket engine. Since 2023 we have been competing at UK Race2Space, an initiative set up to enable rocketry teams across the UK to develop and test their very own rocket engines. Working with local industry partners Laser Prototypes Europe (LPE), QPL 3D printed our Kelvin Mk.1 engine with an aluminium alloy and fired it, reaching a peak thrust of 3kN! |
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OutreachAs well as competitions, we also engage in outreach with local schools to help inspire the next generation of STEM students across Northern Ireland. We regularly volunteer at the UKROC student rocketry heats here in NI, in partnership with ADS Group. Alongside this, we have run workshops with local schools and given talks during events such as NI Science Festival and World Space Week. |
We welcome students from all disciplines. We value diverse perspectives and believe everyone’s input can contribute to our exciting aerospace projects. Whether you're studying engineering, arts, or anything in between, if you have an interest in space, this is the place for you!
To find out more about how to join, check out our Linktree and keep and eye on our social media pages.
You can also reach us by email: aerospace-soc@qub.ac.uk