For several years now, the Rocket Experiment Division (RED) project team aspired to participate in an international rocket launch competition. The opportunity came in 2020, when Portugal Space invited the team to participate in the European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoc), the first university rocket launch competition in Europe. After their participation in last year’s edition with a propulsion static test, the team is prepared to make its debut this year, being the only Portuguese team to participate in the competition.

EuRoC aims to challenge Bachelor or Master’s degree students from all over Europe to launch solid, hybrid, or liquid propulsion rockets targeting altitudes of 3,000 and 9,000 meters. 20 teams from 13 countries, such as United Kingdom, Switzerland, Poland, France, Greece, Germany, Denmark, among others, will participate in this year’s edition, to be held in Ponte de Sor and Constância. “We are very proud to be pioneers in Portugal, in this area”, says Gonçalo Maia, coordinator of RED. “We started working on the project when Space became more widely discussed in Portugal. After 4 years we were able to compete in EuRoC, so our big goal was achieved”, stresses the Técnico student.

‘Blimunda’ is the name of the rocket designed by Técnico team that will compete in the skies of Ponte de Sor. It is easy to understand where the inspiration came from – Blimunda is the central character of Saramago’s book “Memorial do Convento” (“Baltasar and Blimunda”), so often considered the most fascinating female figure in Saramago’s works. The team wanted to continue their tradition of giving female names to rockets, which began with the Aurora mission, and to pay homage to Portuguese literature.

Gonçalo Maia highlights the importance of sponsors: “The manufacturing and the design process of Blimunda were possible thanks to the support and experience of our sponsors, who provided valuable help when choosing materials, components or specific formats for our parts”.

A multidisciplinary team eager to learn

The RED project is made up of 45 members, divided into several teams: Control, Electronics, Management and Marketing, Structures, Recovery and Propulsion. The diversity of study areas – Aerospace Engineering, Electric and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Physics and Materials Engineering – contributes to a comprehensive view and to the construction of “increasingly complete rockets”, as the project leader stresses.

“Given that this is RED’s first competition, we have no expectations. Our goal is to learn from more experienced teams and to improve our project for future competitions”, says Gonçalo Maia. Still, the desire to bring an award to Técnico is shared by the team members. “We would obviously be very proud if we manage to win an award. It would be a source of enormous pride for the entire academic community, not just for the team”, stresses the project coordinator.

“I hope that other Portuguese teams can join us in the future to participate in EuRoC”, says the RED coordinator. For now, the team expects that ‘Blimunda’ flies very high during the competition, because as Saramago once said “dreams are what hold the world in its orbit.”