Feth Fiada and Sguaba Tuinne Flight Tests

Over the past month, ULAS HiPR travelled north twice to Ulster Rocketry's launch site to fly two experimental vehicles: Ireland's first CO₂-deployment test rocket and the team's first active-control vehicle.

Feth Fiada, named after a mythical Irish fog, is part of the Mach-26 recovery-system test campaign. The 3-inch, 1,334-millimetre vehicle uses 16-gram CO₂ canisters, pierced by a flame-hardened steel piston actuated by a 35-kilogram servo. Three flights produced the data needed to adapt the system for much larger rockets.

Sguaba Tuinne, named after the self-guiding boat of the Irish Lord of the Seas, is the team's first attempt to control roll in flight using canards in the nosecone. Its first flight was cut short by a motor malfunction, but the team is rebuilding it for another launch with a custom flight computer onboard. Wind-tunnel testing in the University of Limerick School of Engineering provided the aerodynamic data needed before flight.

Thank you to Ulster Rocketry for the launch site and motors, and to Irish Rocketry for its support on the day.