{"id":3502,"date":"2026-05-02T17:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T17:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/3502\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T17:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T17:44:19","slug":"student-rocket-team-successfully-launches-galah-rocket-10000-feet-in-nsw-outback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/3502\/","title":{"rendered":"Student rocket team successfully launches Galah rocket 10,000 feet in NSW outback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students with space industry aspirations have been venturing to far west New South Wales to send their skills skyward.<\/p>\n

While Artemis II was floating around in space, the University of Sydney’s (USYD) student rocketry team took a 12-hour road journey to a sheep station between Mildura and Broken Hill.<\/p>\n

They brought with them components for a sounding rocket named Galah.<\/p>\n

They had to meticulously reassemble it upon arrival, with the aim of sending it 10,000 feet (3,048 metres) in the air.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sounding rocket Galah successfully launched 10,000 feet in the air earlier this month. (Supplied: USYD Rocketry Team)<\/p>\n

Students designed every component of the projectile, and the closer they got it to their target altitude, the better their performance was judged to be.<\/p>\n

Outback rocket launching<\/p>\n

The USYD Rocketry Team has been going to Tolarno Station every Easter since 2022.<\/p>\n

About 90 students spend months involved in a project where a rocket named after an Australian bird is designed, manufactured and tinkered with.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

All parts of the rocket launch were transported to far west New South Wales. (Supplied: USYD Rocketry Team)<\/p>\n

The squad also decides what altitude to target in feet, with previous teams having success reaching peak heights of 10,000 and 30,000 feet.<\/p>\n

Project manager Michael Bogeholz said it was not only mechanical, aerospace and mechatronic engineering students who participated.<\/p>\n

“We get people from all sample areas of the uni, from arts majors to science majors to computer science majors to help put this rocket together,” Mr Bogeholz said.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Putting together the rockets takes months of student effort. (Supplied: USYD Rocketry Team)<\/p>\n

“Not only do we have a technical side but we have an operations side which handles our finances, business, media and sponsorships.”<\/p>\n

The university has a facility between Sydney and Canberra where the components designed each year can be tested, but nothing matches the thrill, adrenaline rush and tension of launch week in the outback.<\/p>\n

The trek to Tolarno Station is about outcomes.<\/p>\n

The propulsion, flight systems, payload, modelling and ground support teams launch the rocket twice in a week (weather permitting) to validate their hard work, and seek repeatable results.<\/p>\n

Eyes on the skies<\/p>\n

The rocketry program has seen a shift in its participant credentials and leadership opportunities in recent years.<\/p>\n

“In 2022 the majority of our team members were in their late years, third or fourth year, but as of now in our current project, a lot of members are in first, second and third year,” Mr Bogeholz said.<\/p>\n

Among those who have upskilled and taken on leadership opportunities is Lillie Mellin.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Lillie Mellin says the launch is a great opportunity for students. (Supplied: USYD Rocketry Team)<\/p>\n

She is a fifth-year student, studying a Bachelor of Mechatronic Engineering and a Bachelor of Law.<\/p>\n

She is the systems engineer for the Galah project, having had previous roles as a senior engineer and in ground control.<\/p>\n

“It’s hands-on and technically so much more demanding than other experiences at uni, so you’re just forced to learn so much,” Ms Mellin said.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a really good insight into how engineering works in the real world, which we try and follow as closely as we possibly can as a student team.”<\/p>\n

Charlie Balderstone is a third-year Mechatronic Engineering student and is the technical director of the Galah project.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Charlie Balderstone prepares the internal components of Galah ahead of launch. (Supplied: USYD Rocketry Team)<\/p>\n

He helped lead a team of 27 people to a successful launch sequence.<\/p>\n

“We’re split across a range of disciplines, from electronics to control the rocket, structures, to make any repairs that need to happen, and propulsion fluids people,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Back in Sydney we’ve got about 60. There’s a lot of people back closer to home listening in on all the information we can give them from out here.<\/p>\n

“Obviously it’s cool to watch a rocket go up and it is 10 times cooler when it is something that you’ve put together.”The sky isn’t the limit<\/p>\n

Once the outback launch week has wrapped up, the team must consider who to send to the International Rocket Engineering Competition with the Galah rocket.<\/p>\n

It is an event where student rocketry teams from across the globe converge, aiming to get as close to their target altitudes as possible within their various categories.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Three University of Sydney students carry Galah to its launch rail. (Supplied: USYD Rocketry Team)<\/p>\n

The USYD team has entered the 10,000ft Student Researched and Developed Hybrid\/Liquid competition.<\/p>\n

They will be up against a team from RMIT University in Melbourne, as well as four American, one Canadian and one Turkish university teams.<\/p>\n

Galah is the USYD rocketry team’s fourth rocket aiming for 10,000 feet.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Charlie Balderstone secures a parachute to Galah. (Supplied: USYD Rocketry Team)<\/p>\n

Two of their previous efforts have won international competitions.<\/p>\n

Pardalote came first last year in its category after it reached 10,342 feet (3,152m), and Silvereye came first as well in 2019, reaching 10,027 feet (3,056m).<\/p>\n

The Galah rocket managed a peak height of 10,200 feet (3,108m) during its launch at Tolarno Station.<\/p>\n

Space career opportunities<\/p>\n

Mr Balderstone said he was confident the skills learnt through the rocketry program gave students the best opportunity to enter the Australian space industry.<\/p>\n

“These competitions want to see that we have a very in-depth understanding of every part of the system and that understanding is hard to come by, even in industry,” Mr Balderstone said.<\/p>\n

“They are primarily about how accurately you can simulate the rocket, how accurately you can make sure it slows down in time to hit that 10,000-foot number right on the dot.<\/p>\n

“By targeting that through the student level of the workforce, you’re setting up very well for the future of engineers in Australia.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Flight systems lead Riley Smith works with Lillie Mellin on the final assembly. (Supplied: USYD Rocketry Team)<\/p>\n

Ms Mellin said the experience had made her realise her passion lay in the engineering component of her degree.<\/p>\n

“Since joining rocketry, that’s kind of opened my eyes to that side of engineering and those kind of industries,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“[I’m] definitely leaning towards the engineering portion, with law kind of assisting my engineering degree with those soft skills.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students with space industry aspirations have been venturing to far west New South Wales to send their skills…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,4700,21,4698,4696,4701,4697,237,4699,3325],"class_list":["post-3502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australian-space-industry","tag-austrlia","tag-engineering","tag-galah","tag-launching-rockets-in-the-outback","tag-outback","tag-rocket","tag-space","tag-university-of-sydney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}