Big Ideas: Rockets for All Space Competition

It all began when Dr Simon Foster – great friend and advocate of Water Rokit for many years – sent us an email in October 2024 that went like this:

Hi Susan,

I just wanted to pick your brains. I am helping to run a schools space competition and one idea I have put forward is a competition based around water rockets. I was just wondering how close you are to having the altimeter ready to sell? My idea is that we will ask schools to see how high they can get their water rockets, which can be registered using the altimeter, and the winners are the teams that get their rocket highest. That way, we can send out the water rocket kits + altimeter to the schools, with some instructions, and then let them run the challenge in their own time.

Simon

What incredible timing! Our long-time colleague at Mindsets UK, Joseph Birks, was finalising work on a Rokit Logger. This brilliant piece of kit simply attaches to the bottle you’re using for your Water Rokit and measures the height & speed of the launch. You then download the data to a laptop or computer for analysis! It was just at the point of beta testing so this was perfect.

The Beginning of a New Adventure

Simon introduced us to Lottie Selwyn and the team at Big Ideas and we were on board. With our special education discount on Water Rokits, the prototype Rokit Loggers, and a bundle of freebies for the winners, we struck a deal and the preparation began.

There were some workshops around careers in space during January 2025, and then the schools were ready to embark on the Water Rokit competition! By the end of February, we had a list of 55 schools that would receive our Water Rokit kits, the Rokit Logger, and prizes. From County Down to the Scottish Borders, Torfaen to Tower Hamlets, all around the UK. Then with Big Ideas at the helm, all 55 schools took part in student-led water rocket competitions in February and March 2025 as part of ‘Rockets For All’.

Along with the kits and prizes, we suggested an EGGsperiment with astronaut eggs – the brainchild of Simon Foster – which we have available on our Education Portal – free to download here.

The finale of the whole event culminated in a brilliant online talk with Helen Sharman – the first British Astronaut – along with hundreds of students and teachers, hosted with great poise by Lottie from Big Ideas.

To find out more about how the schools got on with the Water Rokit competition and how they embraced the chance to be the first to test the prototype Rokit Loggers, have a read of this blog from Big Ideas.

Stay Up To Date

As they say, WATCH THIS SPACE for news of the Rokit Logger’s official launch on our website!

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