CTU Space Research at European Rocketry Challenge 2025: the Andromeda rocket placed 3rd in its category
The CTU Space Research team from CTU Prague took part in the prestigious European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC) competition in the town of Constância in October 2025. The students presented their biggest project yet — the Andromeda rocket, powered by the Perseus hybrid engine (thrust > 3 kN), aiming to reach an altitude of 3 km.
Rocket preparation and jury review
After arriving in Constância, the team registered for the competition, met other university teams, and assembled the rocket after transporting it from the Czech Republic. Final adjustments and preparations for the Flight Readiness Review took place on site.
A key part of the competition was the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) — a two-hour presentation in front of an expert panel, where the students defended the design, safety features, and launch plan. The team passed the FRR successfully and confirmed its readiness to fly. Before the launch, a Dry Run (a simulation of launch procedures) also took place to fine-tune team roles and coordination for the upcoming launch day.
Launch at the military base
From 7 AM, the team prepared for the Andromeda launch at the SANTA MARGARIDA military base. The launch attempt ultimately came during the very last launch window, around 6 PM Portuguese time. During the attempt, the hybrid engine ignited successfully. However, the engine did not build up enough thrust for the rocket to leave the rail. Preliminary analysis points to a likely issue with delayed or insufficient oxidiser flow into the engine. As a result, a fire broke out, damaging the tail section and the power section.
Even though part of the rocket was destroyed, it's important to note that the safety features worked exactly as intended: our so-called hold-down mechanism prevented an unwanted liftoff, protecting both participants and nearby equipment. The hold-down mechanism's job is to keep the rocket on the rail until it reaches the thrust needed to gain sufficient speed leaving the rail, so as not to endanger anyone present at the competition. This means the team got much further in the competition and in development than it had two years earlier.
Analysis and next steps
Immediately after the incident, the team began disassembling Andromeda and carrying out a detailed analysis of the engine, logs, and components. With more than ten previous successful ignitions of the same configuration carried out in the Czech Republic, this points to an unusual, so-far isolated event, whose exact causes still need to be thoroughly verified.
Initial inspection results show that most of the rocket's structure survived the fire:
- the air brake effectively deflected the flames and acted as a fire break, partly protecting the rest of the rocket,
- the hold-down system reliably kept the rocket on the rail.
A launch site is now already available in the Czech Republic, which the team wants to make use of soon. We're now waiting for suitable weather and working on the necessary tasks:
- manufacturing a new engine mount,
- completing and repairing the tail section,
- assembling a replacement engine,
- pressure-testing the tanks.
Every step of the analysis and repair provides valuable data and experience that the team will use in the next phase of development and for the next launch attempt.
Conclusion
Overall, we consider our participation in the competition to have been very rewarding, both technically and in terms of the relationships we built. Together we managed to build a functioning system, on which we still need to fine-tune the last details and pin down the cause of the fault. At the same time, the team members got to know each other better, which will help us function better as a group and communicate and collaborate more effectively.
Our team placed 3rd in its category (hybrid-engine rockets up to 3 km) and came 17th out of 25 overall with 350 points.