As founder sponsors, Swansea University’s College of Engineering have been invited to the firing which will take place on Wednesday 3 October at Aerohub, Newquay Cornwall Airport, one of the few locations in the UK equipped to handle the test.

Bloodhound’s engineers will be testing the complete rocket system for the first time, comprising of the Cosworth CA2010 F1 engine, High Test Peroxide tank, custom designed gear box, software and unique Falcon Hybrid Rocket.

Researchers from Swansea University’s College of Engineering have contributed to the aerodynamic design of Bloodhound, and the supersonic car proved to be a popular attraction on the University’s stand at this year’s Urdd National Eisteddfod.

It’s hoped the famous vehicle will set a new world land speed record of around 850mph during 2013 before breaking the record and reaching 1,000 miles per hour in 2014 in Hakskeen Pan, Northern Cape, South Africa.

Bloodhound will eventually travel at five times the speed of a Formula One car and is powered by both the Falcon hybrid rocket and a Eurofighter EJ200 jet engine. The car measures 12.8 meters in length and weighs 7.5 tonnes.

Researchers from Swansea University have spent a large amount of time over the past few years visiting schools across Wales using the free BLOODHOUND Education Programme resources to help Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) lessons come to life, including Dr. Ben Evans, Lecturer at Swansea’s College of Engineering and member of the Bloodhound SSC design team.

Dr. Ben Evans said: ‘‘It has been a pleasure to be a part of such an iconic project and it will be great to witness its latest development next week. The event represents the project’s most significant milestone yet and I hope it will show people how exciting engineering can be.’’

Images and video footage from the test will be streamed live to the web as it happens via YouStream on www.BLOODHOUNDSSC.com/rocket

Picture: Courtesy of BLOODHOUND SSC