Mission completed

Origin, the rocket developed by the Faraday Rocketry UPV team, part of the UPV Design Factory at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), completed its launch mission yesterday at the El Arenosillo Experimental Centre of the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) in the province of Huelva.

With favourable weather conditions, at around 8.30 a.m. on 23 February, the team began live broadcasting from El Arenosillo. Work started on the platform with ignition. At around 1 p.m., the initial propelled ascent began, with the first stage providing the necessary thrust to break inertia.

After exhausting its fuel, the rocket entered a phase of inertial ascent until it reached an altitude of 4 km. At that point, the stages separated.

Luna Marhuenda, technical director of Faraday Rocketry UPV, explains in a story on the team's Instagram account that 'the booster engine detached at 4 km and 57 metres, so we have a check mark for our objectives in terms of stage separation, which is what we were aiming to achieve.'

Origin is a two-stage rocket. It was manufactured entirely by the 68 people who make up the team, who developed the rocket engine using their own technology, as well as the modular avionics and the sea recovery system. They used their own manufacturing techniques.

Although the expected national record could not be broken, the team did improve on their best altitude record. It consolidated their learning through a real launch experience in collaboration with INTA.

UPV Design Factory

Faraday Rocketry is part of UPV Design Factory, the pioneering UPV project which, with ten years of experience, is the launch pad for interdisciplinary student projects that promotes 'learning by doing' and enhances cross-curricular competencies. This course brings together 3,000 students in a total of 65 teams from various disciplines.