Brief Overview 

The Recovery team is responsible for safely returning the rocket from its peak altitude back to ground level. Controlling the descent rate is critical to protect sensitive avionics, structural hardware, and onboard payload equipment—as well as ensuring the safety of personnel on the ground. 

While industry giants—such as SpaceX—use complex thrust-vectoring landings, BRT utilises a high-reliability dual-parachute system optimised for university sounding rockets. The assembly combines mechanical mechanisms, electronics, and specialised textile engineering to execute a staged recovery sequence. 

As a member of the team, you will design deployment mechanisms, run structural load simulations, and participate in explosive and mechanical drop testing. 

What to Expect 

The recovery sequence relies on two staged deployments: a smaller drogue parachute deployed at apogee to stabilise the vehicle during high-speed descent, followed by a larger main parachute at lower altitude for soft touchdown. Typical tasks include: 

• Redesigning the separation and ejection architecture for the 2026/27 competition airframe; 

• Evaluating alternative deployment and separation methods (including pneumatic retention and pyrotechnic/explosive bolt mechanisms); 

• Conducting FEA and stress calculations on eye bolts, shock cords, and structural bulkheads subject to high snatch forces; 

• Integrating deployment actuation electronics and redundant black-box flight sensors; 

• Manufacturing, rigging, and custom sewing parachute canopies and deployment bags; 

• Organising and executing full-scale ground ejection tests and dropped parachute drop-testing. 

Work will be planned around university deadlines where possible, but members are expected to maintain consistent engagement and participate in scheduled testing campaigns. 

What We’re Looking For 

No prior experience with aerospace recovery systems is required—all necessary mechanical and textile skills will be developed on the team. We are looking for hands-on, curious problem solvers across all engineering and technical backgrounds. 

We are particularly looking for people who are: 

• Excited by multi-disciplinary engineering bridging mechanical design, practical electronics, and textile fabrication; 

• Detail-oriented and safety-conscious when designing critical failure-proof mechanisms; 

• Proactive in testing, iterating, and validating hardware through physical trial runs; 

• Reliable and communicative when collaborating across structural and avionics interfaces; 

• Open to developing custom ideas that improve system reliability and mass efficiency. 

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Applications are welcome from students of all years and disciplines. 

Relevant Skills 

Required: 

• Basic CAD experience, preferably Autodesk Inventor Professional. 

• Willingness to work hands-on with hardware, mechanical linkages, or textile assembly. 

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Beneficial but not necessary: 

• Structural analysis or FEA experience (ANSYS / Abaqus / Inventor). 

• Basic microcontroller and embedded electronics experience (Arduino, micro-servos, actuators). 

• Rapid prototyping.