ACTIVE MISSION — MACH-26 SCOTLAND
Competition Rocket 01

BellBurnell

EirSpace — First International Entry

Ireland's first student-built competition rocket. Designed entirely in-house, built to fly to an exact apogee of 2km at the Mach-26 competition in Scotland.

2km Target Apogee
K-700 Competition Motor
3 Total Flights
4fin Katana-derived
// CAD assemblies — Bell Burnell
360° Assembly render
Exploded view render
Mission Brief

Designed to fly to an exact altitude — no more, no less

Bell Burnell's mission is to reach an apogee of exactly 2km at the Mach-26 competition in Scotland, flying under a K-700 motor and carrying a custom-built CanSat payload to collect barometric data throughout the flight.

Before competition, Bell Burnell completes two test flights to validate all systems at increasing altitudes.

Test 01
I-236 motor → ~400m — validates CanSat recovery before pushing to competition altitude.
Test 02
K-660 motor → ~2.2km — full systems validation at competition altitude with all flight hardware active.
Competition
K-700 motor → 2.0km exactly — Mach-26, Scotland. Target apogee must be precise.
Named after
Jocelyn Bell Burnell —
the Irish scientist
who discovered pulsars.
The Name

In 1967, Jocelyn Bell Burnell made one of the most significant discoveries in modern astronomy — the detection of pulsars. When the discovery was nominated for a Nobel Prize in 1974, it was her supervisor who received the award, not her.

We chose to name our first international competition rocket in her honour, because her story is proof that Ireland can have a meaningful impact in complex industries — and that is exactly what EirSpace is here to demonstrate.

Technical Breakdown

Engineering Bell Burnell

01
Airframe
Structure & Fins
4-fin design
Design Approach
The fins were derived from the katana rocket fin geometry, with the number of fins increased from three to four. This combines proven experimental data from previous launches with new simulation-driven design decisions, targeting improved stability throughout the full flight envelope.
Material: 4.5mm thick plywood sheets, laser-cut to exact dimensions and bonded to the internal structure using aerospace-grade epoxy — ensuring precise alignment and structural integrity under motor load.
02
Electronics
Avionics & CanSat Payload
Live telemetry
System Overview
The CanSat payload is a miniature satellite system built around a custom 4-layer avionics circuit board, powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 as the flight computer. It measures atmospheric pressure, chamber temperature, and GPS position during flight, transmitting data live to the ground station via a LoRa telemetry link.
Sensors
Atmospheric pressure · Chamber temperature · GPS position
Communications
LoRa telemetry — live data streamed to ground station throughout flight
Flight Computer
Raspberry Pi Pico 2 on a custom 4-layer PCB
Purpose
Observe, record and report — altitude estimation, payload health monitoring, real-time tracking and post-flight recovery
What makes the CanSat especially significant is the breadth of engineering it integrates — sensing, embedded systems, wireless communication, and aerospace design in a single compact platform. It gives the team a practical means to test ideas, validate performance, and gather real flight data ahead of more advanced missions.
03
Descent
Recovery Systems
Dual deployment
Rocket Recovery — Dual Deployment
Bell Burnell uses a hot gas dual deployment system — two parachutes deployed at separate stages of descent via small black powder charges.
Stage 1 — Drogue: Seconds after apogee, onboard flight computers ignite charge caps near the top of the rocket. The black powder charge ejects the nose cone, deploying a drogue chute that slows and stabilises the rocket during initial descent.
Stage 2 — Main: At a predetermined altitude — calculated prior to launch based on wind conditions — the main parachute deploys using the same method, splitting the rocket into two sections and slowing Bell Burnell to a safe recovery speed.
CanSat Recovery — Independent System
The CanSat, housed inside the nose cone, has its own fully independent recovery system. The nose cone is ejected during the drogue stage just after apogee.
A 5X Jolly Logic Chute Release controls the deployment altitude. Once the CanSat reaches its predetermined altitude, the Jolly Logic activates a small internal motor to release the elastic band holding the packed parachute — the chute unfurls and slows the CanSat to a safe landing speed.
Why the delay? Holding the CanSat parachute until lower altitude keeps the landing zone close to the launch pad, preventing payload drift in wind and ensuring clean recovery and data retrieval.
Gallery
Build & Flight
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