Cardiff University rocket team wins at space competition
28 August 2025
The student team won the Hybrid Rocket Engine category at the Race 2 Space competition, a groundbreaking educational initiative to boost the UK space sector.
Competing in their first national event, the newly formed Cardiff Rocket Labs (CRL) impressed judges with their debut hybrid rocket engine, ‘Bowser,’ designed, built, and tested entirely in-house by students, with support from the university’s engineering technicians.
The CRL team is a student-led group of engineering and physics students at Cardiff University. Three members represented the team at the competition: Team Lead and Propulsion Lead Oscar Mabon (mechanical engineering), President Yusif Al-Gurair (astrophysics), and Propulsion Engineer Joel Cartwright (mechanical engineering).
The team had a great time. It was an amazing moment to see something we had spent months designing finally come to life. We really enjoyed getting hands-on with the test site and working alongside industry engineers to prepare the engine for firing.
CRL was praised for submitting one of the best technical documentation packages of the year, earning recognition alongside well-established teams from Imperial College London and University College London. The team's strong performance also positioned them as a top contender for the Best Newcomer award.
With a successful competition debut behind them, CRL is looking ahead. Plans are in motion to expand the group, welcome new members, and return to future competitions, including Race 2 Space 2026 and Mach ’26.
This year we kept the team small so we could gain experience and learn as much as possible. Now that we’re more established, we’re excited to grow. For my dissertation next year, I’ll be designing a fully regenerative liquid rocket engine that we plan to enter in Race 2 Space 2026. Long term, we want the propulsion and flight teams to collaborate on building a liquid engine flight vehicle.
Earlier in the year, mechanical engineering student Tom Squire competed individually at Mach ’25, a rocketry competition held in July at Machrihanish Airbase in Scotland. His first-ever rocket flight was a success, marking another milestone for the CRL team’s growing presence in the UK’s student rocketry scene.
CRL also expressed their thanks to ACCU, whose support helped make their projects possible.
