On May 1st LASER (Liverpool Association for Space Research and Technology) hosted a presentation by Dr Jack James Marlow, Head of Engineering at Skyrora. LASER President Conor Lamb introduced Dr Marlow, originally from Liverpool, who gave a fascinating insight into the actual design, build and testing of the engines and the Skyrora XL rocket itself. He explained the attention to detail required eg how in software a semi colon in the wrong place could terminate an engine test and some of the practical issues faced during the launch in Iceland. He also explained the engineering management structure and techniques, lean methods and tools such as Prince2. He was employee number six when he joined Skyrora and the company is now two hundred and fifty strong.
A very active question and answer session followed, at the end of which Dr Marlow invited the students to visit the Skyrora plant in Scotland.
“It is great to see such activity at LASER. Yesterday with some of the students we visited Jacobs in Warrington and Dr Marlow’s presentation today was a great insight into the practical issues involved in building rocket engines. Last year some of the LASER team visited Skyrora and it’s good that Dr Marlow has offered to host them again this year. Finally I understand that LASER have entered the UKSEDS National Rocketry Championship for the first time and we wish them good luck in the competition” Bob Morris, NSC Chairman.
For more information on the student space societies and Space generally contact bob.morris@thensc-uk.com