Rocket Science

Alongside his mathematical research, Bryn is also an experienced rocket scientist. He worked at the Swiss space initiative ARIS during his time in Zurich and was one of the lead engineers of project PICCARD, which built the first O-class hybrid propellant rocket in Switzerland and set a new altitude world record for a student-developed rocket of this type.

PICCARD launched from Ponte de Sor, Portugal in October 2021. It was 6.3m long, weighed 97kg at liftoff and carried a prototype acoustic levitation device (developed in partnership with No Touch Robotics) as an experimental payload. PICCARD flew to an altitude of 6.5km, which won the 9km Hybrid category at the 2021 European Rocketry Challenge and was a new world record for a student-developed O-class hybrid propellant rocket.

Bryn continues to contribute to experimental sounding rocket projects, exploiting applications of his academic research. He also supports student rocket teams, such as by acting as Head of the Safety Advisory Board of ARIS and as a technical consultant to several teams. Enquiries related to this work should be directed to bryn.davies@aris-space.ch.

Bryn uses his experiences to do outreach work, sharing his story of using maths to build rockets with secondary school pupils. Interested schools should enquire via email.