Held in the Diamond Building on Saturday 11th May, Karman Alpha: Twelve Feet Under, showcases the entire rocketry experience; the documentary weaves together interviews with key team members with footage from pre-launch week, the launch itself, and the recovery efforts.
Launched from the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site in the Mojave Desert, the team attempted to crush their own UK open altitude record of 36,274ft set in 2019 with a two-stage, solid-fueled rocket.
The team's meticulously designed first stage propelled the rocket to Mach 1.1 (a unit of speed relative to the speed of sound) and an altitude of 8,500 feet before a clean separation. The second stage would then take over, accelerating to a blistering Mach 3.1 with the aim of reaching a staggering 100,000 feet.
Throughout the flight, a custom data logging flight computer, developed by the team over the past year, captured every crucial detail.
Tom Danvers, Aerospace Engineering student and Project Sunride lead, said: "Whilst building Karman Alpha we really wanted to make a documentary about the launch. We were inspired by other documentaries that we watched on YouTube such as ‘Space or Nothing’ and started collecting ideas. The documentary was directed by Stephen Lin, who did a fantastic job. We’re launching two more rockets soon, and will be making a sequel documentary in the near future! Looking forward to it!”
Project Sunride is the University of Sheffield’s student-led rocket team who build rockets and rocket engines, with the goal of eventually reaching space. On the 15th of June 2024, the team will launch Karman Bravo, the next rocket in its Karman Series, aiming to build on the lessons learned from Karman Alpha and set a new UK altitude record.
Watch: Twelve Feet Under.
Karman Bravo: the team’s next rocket, launching on June 15th 2024