Imperial College London Rocketry

What Imperial College London Rocketry does

Imperial College London Rocketry (ICLR) is a student rocketry society established in 2018 at Imperial College London's South Kensington Campus, London. The organization designs, builds, and launches high-powered rockets for international competition, with entries in the European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC) in the L3 category (Nimbus in 2023, Nimbus 24 in 2024) and the L9 category (Pluto in 2025). The society serves Imperial College London engineering students, providing hands-on practical experience in propulsion, avionics, airframe design, flight dynamics, and payload development across five structured technical teams.

The organization's technology portfolio encompasses a fully custom avionics stack built on ESP32 microcontrollers running C++ on FreeRTOS with arbitrated CAN bus communication, a Python backend with Grafana telemetry dashboards, and MATLAB/Simulink-based state estimation models. In-house developed subsystems include custom flight PCBs (Kermit sensor suite, PickleRick, Flint & Steel, Chad, Ricardo ecosystem), electronic pressure regulators, capacitive fill sensors, conformal patch antennas, RF gateway boards (Hermes), camera controllers, and grid-fin controllers (Psyche). Propulsion capabilities include custom COPV tanks, pressure and mass flow controllers, and feed systems for liquid bipropellant rockets, with hot-fire testing at the Silwood Park test site. Composite manufacturing is performed in-house including filament winding, forged carbon fibre, and pre-preg composites.

The organization operates as a non-profit entity with no commercial revenue. All funding is derived from corporate sponsorships at Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze tiers plus support from Imperial College London's Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics departments. Platinum sponsors include Space Logistics Network, Cambridge Aerospace, and Raw Ventures, with additional support from component suppliers (Wurth Elektronik, Mouser, RS Components, Eurocircuits, Swagelok UK, Cadfil, SoftInWay) and financial sponsors (Jane Street). The go-to-market motion is event-driven through competition participation and community-led recruitment from Imperial College London's engineering student body.

Name

Imperial College London Rocketry

Legal name

Imperial College London Rocketry

Website

https://imperialrocketry.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Imperial College London Rocketry is a non-profit student society at Imperial College London that designs, builds, and launches competition rockets for the European Rocketry Challenge, serving engineering students with hands-on experience in propulsion, avionics, and flight systems.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Student High-Powered Rocketry

NAICS

Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Manufacturing (336414), Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Propulsion Unit and Propulsion Unit Parts Manufacturing (336415), Other Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Parts and Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing (336419)

SIC

Guided Missiles & Space Vehicles & Parts (3760), Search, Detection, Navagation, Guidance, Aeronautical Sys (3812)

akta.pro primary industry

Launch Vehicles & Orbital Rockets (IMABACAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Rocket Engines (Liquid) (IMABADAE), Space Payloads & Instruments (Sensors, Comms, EO/IR) (IMABACAD), Spacecraft Propulsion (In-Space) & Thrusters (IMABACAE)

Keywords

• Student rocketry programs
• High-powered rockets
• Liquid propulsion systems
• Avionics development
• Composite airframe manufacturing

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Sponsorship Funding: The organization is entirely funded through corporate sponsorships at various tiers (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze) and support from educational institutions. No commercial products or services are sold.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Imperial College London Rocketry (ICLR) is a student-led rocketry team that designs, builds, and launches high-powered rockets for international competitions including the European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC). The team develops custom liquid bipropellant propulsion systems, in-house composite airframes, and a proprietary avionics stack for student-engineered rockets. ICLR operates as an educational organization, providing hands-on engineering experience to Imperial College London students across multiple disciplines including propulsion, electronics, structures, flight dynamics, and payload systems.

Product overview

Imperial College London Rocketry is a student rocketry team that designs, builds, and launches rockets for international competition (EuRoC). Their portfolio consists of competition rockets (Pluto for EuRoC 2025 L9, Nimbus 24 for EuRoC 2024 L3, Sirius for altitude record attempts, Nimbus for EuRoC 2023 L3) and a suite of avionics/electronics subsystems including custom flight PCBs (Kermit, PickleRick, Flint & Steel, Chad), firmware on ESP32 with CAN bus, Python backend with Grafana telemetry, state estimator, conformal antennas, electronic pressure regulators, RF gateway boards, camera controllers, and grid-fin controllers. They also develop ground support systems including test stands, mission control electronics, and workshop test equipment. The propulsion team builds custom COPV tanks, pressure controllers, and feed systems for pressure-fed liquid bipropellant rockets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pluto ICLR's rocket designed for EuRoC 2025 in the L9 high-powered rocketry competition category, developed by the student team across airframe, electronics, flight dynamics, propulsion, and payload subsystems.
• Nimbus 24 ICLR's rocket designed for EuRoC 2024 in the L3 high-powered rocketry competition category, with full custom avionics, propulsion, and composite airframe integration.
• Sirius ICLR's rocket project designed to attempt breaking the UK student altitude record, demonstrating the team's high-altitude capabilities.
• Nimbus ICLR's rocket designed for EuRoC 2023 in the L3 high-powered rocketry competition category, the team's first EuRoC competition entry.

Quantifiable outcome

• Multiple competition entries in EuRoC (European Rocketry Challenge) L3 and L9 categories

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Cambridge University Space and Sounding Rocketry (CUSSR): Cambridge University student rocketry team also competing at EuRoC in the UK; directly comparable as a UK university rocketry society with similar ambitions in liquid propulsion and competition-grade avionics.
• Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering (DARE): TU Delft student rocketry team and longstanding EuRoC participant; comparable in scale and ambition, building multi-kilometre amateur rockets with hybrid and liquid propulsion.
• Sheffield University Space Team (USST): UK university student rocketry team building rockets for EuRoC competition; directly comparable as a domestic peer with similar competition-driven mission.
• University of Manchester SEDS Rocketry: Student rocketry group at the University of Manchester participating in EuRoC; comparable as a UK student team with similar propulsion and avionics sub-team structure.
• ARES — Aachen Rocket Engineering Society: RWTH Aachen student rocketry team and regular EuRoC competitor; comparable European peer with similar technical scope and competition cadence.
• ESRA — European Student Rocketry Association: European federation of student rocketry teams organizing EuRoC; ICLR competes within this network and shares member profile with ESRA teams across Europe.
• University of Edinburgh Rocketry Society: Scottish student rocketry team with comparable competition ambitions and a similar university-club operating model.
• University of Oxford Rocketry (SEDS Oxford): Oxford University student rocketry team participating in EuRoC; comparable UK peer with similar sponsor-funded student-team structure.

Broad incumbents

• Rocket Lab: Established commercial small-launch operator with Electron and Neutron rockets; broadly comparable category player where ICLR alumni may ultimately land, but operates at vastly larger scale and with a commercial customer base ICLR does not serve.

Emerging players

• HyImpulse Technologies: European small-launch startup developing hybrid-propulsion launch vehicles; comparable as a young European launch-category player with overlapping propulsion and avionics engineering scope.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/icl-rocketry
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@icl.rocketry
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/iclrocketry
• Instagraminstagram.com/icl.rocketry

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Imperial College London Rocketry