We are Strath Union, your Students’ Union - the beating heart of activity for students on Strathclyde campus since 1964.
About Us
We run events year-round where you can let loose, let go, just throw a couple shapes and put your skills on show.
Events
We provide free and confidential advice for students, covering academic support, wellbeing and more.
Advice
University is all about finding friends, finding community, and finding yourself.
Societies
Sports Union
We exist to represent all students at the University of Strathclyde. We make sure your voice is heard across the University and beyond.
Voice
Enhance your CV, develop skills, find a part-time job and get more involved with your local community.
Opportunities
The Union is a great place to meet friends, study, grab lunch or take a break. Have a look and discover our variety of venues.
Food & Drink
Bag the latest Strath branded merch, get the latest student deals and explore memberships available at the Union!
Shop
StrathSEDS hosts weekly sessions for those interested in space and the industry, as well as hosting a successful rocketry team
StrathSEDS is the local branch of UKSEDS – UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space – a national network of like-minded students, who all have a passion for the space industry. UKSEDS gives us excellent opportunities to help us get into the industry, such as the National Student Space Conference, rocketry and other space-related competitions, networking opportunities, space careers advice, and many more.
Here at Strathclyde, we split our business into two weekly meetings. On Tuesdays, we provide an opportunity to showcase their passion for space or learn more, and on Thursdays, we work on entries to competitions such as the Mach-X competitions (which we won in 2022!) and NRC.
Our Tuesday sessions are extremely varied, with all members of the committee hosting short workshops, interactive talks, presentations, and Drink Talk Learn.
We try to have semi-regular talks from the industry. In the past, we have had talks from
And we’re inviting more talkers from industry in the coming academic year.
One of our alumni talking after their year in industry at CERN
At least once a semester, we try to have some interactive workshops that are both entertaining and useful to your studies. Some of our past workshops include CAD/3D Printing & destructive testing, and OpenRocket.
After our Tuesday sessions, we offer an opportunity to unwind even more. Most Tuesdays, we end up in the Union, but occasionally we do host socials, such as bowling, karting, and last year we had a sub-crawl with all the other space societies in Glasgow.
StrathSEDS has a long history of success at competitions. In 2013, team Just Testing won the National Rocketry Championship. Much more recently, in 2022, team RF Magic won the 1km Combined category at Mach-22, and in 2023, we won Best PFR at Mach-23.
In 2022, our team RF Magic developed Strathosphere I and two CanSats, Bod I & II, with the aims of launching the CanSats as close to 1km as possible and creating an aerial mesh network on the descent to allow two ground stations to communicate with each other indirectly. Strathosphere I was powered by a Cesaroni 38mm 5 grain Smoky Sam motor (that’s 601Ns of impulse and 350N peak thrust)
Our trophy for winning our category at Mach-22!
Strathosphere I sat on the launch pad
Last year, we decided to upgrade our capability – big time. Strathosphere II reached an altitude of 3158m at apogee, powered by a Cesaroni 75mm 4 grain White Thunder motor, with more than 8 times the impulse and 7 times the peak thrust of Strathosphere I’s (in fact, the motor of Strathosphere II is the same size as Strathosphere I’s airframe!)
We suffered a premature deployment at Mach-23
This is our Pathfinder-like CanSat we planned to fly
Strathosphere II sat on the launch rail at International Rocket Week
Strathosphere II milliseconds after motor ignition, accelerating into the skies at 13.4G
We are entering Mach-X for the 4th year in a row - competing in the 3km Combined category again. Our vehicle - Strathosphere III - is going to fly on a Pro-54 6 grain motor, and is aiming to transmit live video to the ground throughout the flight. In order to accomodate this, we are developing a tracking ground station to automatically point at the vehicle. The CanSat on-board is going to measure the speed of sound throughout its descent in order to determine its altitude.
More information on Strathosphere III will be shared in the future!
Moving into the future of StrathSEDS, we want to fly our student-developed vehicles and avionics even higher – yes, higher than 10,000ft. In the next few years, we want to enter Mach-24 in their highest altitude category and investigate breaking the Scottish Student Altitude Record. Future improvements to our SRAD flight computer include transmitting live video from our launch vehicle and transmitting over 2.4GHz, and our coding team will be working on a tracking ground station to point at the vehicle throughout its flight.
We may also look into re-entering the National Rocketry Championship, depending on how many people join this year.
We have found that most people are hungry for more after building a team rocket, so we will be looking into whether we could help a few people new to the hobby build their own rocket for certification with the UKRA
You could be a part of these exciting upcoming projects!
Words cannot explain the thrill of watching the product of a full year of work boost off the launch pad at 13.4G, you’ll have to see for yourself!
Get your membership now and be part of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space - SEDS.