Aug 31 2021

NU student rocket team consisting of those who belong to the “CanSat Project,” which is one of the “Manufacturing Projects” offered by the Education Center for Engineering and Technology of Faculty of Engineering, completed a hybrid rocket successfully. This is the first achievement made by the students participating in the “Manufacturing Projects.”

A hybrid rocket is a rocket which generates thrust force by chemical reaction between liquid fuel (nitrous oxide) and solid fuel (ABS plastic), and it is considered to be relatively safe to handle. It aims to complete a series of operation ranging from launching, maintaining stable flight, detecting the top of its trajectory, opening a parachute, and then to landing safely on the ground.

Ms. SUDO Azusa, the leader of the rocket team and a fourth year student in the Mechanical Engineering Program of the Faculty of Engineering, saw a hybrid rocket launched by another university in the summer when she was a freshman. She admired its achievement, recruited four members of people initially, and then started the project.

She said: “We didn’t know anything about a rocket. We had to fly blind and try things out, and it was really tough for all of us. That was a heavy burden for each member of us, but we continued to try our best for three years. We worked together to achieve our dream to lift off our rocket. We really enjoyed the process that the rocket is taking shape little by little with the cooperation of many people including faculty of our university, technical staff, and people from other universities. The rocket has finally taken its shape, and we hope that it will be launched safely with everyone’s dream on board.”

The name of the rocket is “TOKI (which means crested ibis in Japanese).” We hope it will fly high and beautifully like a flapping bird, Toki.