Project: Corpulent Stump

Corpulent Stump was a Level 3 project rocket and finally launched in Scotland at IRW 2007.

The rocket was a scratch built 11.4" diameter rocket weighing approximately 45Kg standing 12ft tall. The rocket was mainly built with PML components and composite material from various sources. The airframe was standard PML phenolic tube wrapped in fibre glass sock and epoxy resin.

The electronics contained within the rocket, featured dual redundancy with 2 flight computers, GPS and live telemetry to radio back the data live to a laptop. The rocket also featured a relatively new CO2 gas system from Rouse Tech to pressurise the airframe for controlled deployment break up.

The maiden flight took place at International Rocket Week at Largs in August 2007 and was recorded and shown on Sky News. The rocket brought much publicity to rocketry in the UK and ended up in many national newspapers and local ones too.

Corpulent Stump was the first Level 3 rocket to launched on an N impulse motor in the UK. Although a successful flight and recovery, Corpulent Stump did suffer some damage after landing due to parachute drag, but it will be repaired and will fly again!