Beyond the boundaries of everyday computer science: Testing in Production student team celebrates its first success

Moravská Třebová Airport was buzzing on the morning of Friday, July 10. This time, however, it was not the local flying club that drew attention, but student teams and their rockets. The venue hosted the finals of the nationwide Czech Rocket Challenge 2026. Faculty of Information Technology BUT was represented by its newly established student team, Testing in Production, consisting of Petra Továrková, Jan Kostka, David Daniel Šlapal, David Alois Bureš, and Štěpán Oram. The team was one of just 18 finalists selected from a total of 70 registered teams.

Czech Rocket Challenge 2026 is a team competition for secondary school and university students, where participants design, test, build, and launch their own rockets. Success is measured not only by the rocket's altitude, typically around 500 to 600 metres, but also by whether the team can recover it safely after landing. Judges also assess the sophistication and complexity of the design, the technical report, the research carried out, and other aspects of the project. The competition is organised by the Czech Rocket Society, an association of university students passionate about spaceflight and rocketry.

The BUT freshmen performed exceptionally well, as even a successful launch is far from guaranteed. "The rocket launched flawlessly, successfully deployed its parachute, and landed safely, which is one of the most critical moments of the entire mission. Using the GPS module and drone localisation, we were able to recover it quickly," described Petra Továrková, reflecting on the highlight of the two-day event in Moravská Třebová. She added: "Our greatest achievement was winning the award for the most accurate prediction of the rocket's apogee, the highest point of its flight."

You can explore a web-based visualisation of the rocket's flight here.

Connecting Two Different Worlds

The rockets themselves, weighing around one kilogram, immediately capture attention. The rocket built by Testing in Production is designed as a modular platform approximately 90 cm long that can be easily disassembled and serviced directly in the field. Its main structural element is a steel threaded rod running through the centre of the rocket, connecting all components and transferring loads during launch and parachute deployment. The outer PVC body serves primarily as an aerodynamic shell. The rocket features a 3D-printed nose cone and rear module, a mechanical recovery system with a spring and parachute, and onboard electronics that monitor the flight using sensors and transmit telemetry data to the ground station.

Behind the physical rocket lies dozens of hours of less visible work in information technology, embedded systems, and software engineering. The transition from the predictable world of software into the harsh realities of physical engineering proved to be perhaps the team's greatest challenge. As Jan Kostka explained: "In IT, if the code doesn't work, it throws an error, we fix it, and try again. Physics doesn't give you a second chance. Suddenly we had to solve aerodynamic design and create a rocket with the correct centre of gravity so it would fly smoothly and remain stable. We had to choose materials that were lightweight but strong enough to withstand enormous forces, vibrations, and acceleration during motor ignition. Integrating our software with hardware so everything would work reliably in this uncompromising real-world environment was an incredible learning experience." The precise integration of software and mechanical design proved essential, including the implementation of a reliable live telemetry link to the ground station and the ability to remotely control certain rocket functions during flight, such as emergency parachute deployment.

Each competition project also includes a research component. The FIT team focused on the software analysis of the triboelectric effect (static electricity) generated during flight. Static electricity poses a genuine risk in the aerospace industry: it can damage onboard avionics, generate electromagnetic interference leading to communication loss with the ground station, and contribute to the degradation of surface materials. The experiment aims to measure triboelectric voltage during different phases of flight, verify the resilience of electrical circuits exposed to this voltage, and assess the overall level of risk.

How It Started and What's Next

Building and testing rockets is far from an ordinary hobby. So how did a group of IT students end up doing it? "It actually happened by pure coincidence," recalled David Daniel Šlapal. "The team's founder, Petra Továrková, first heard about student rocket competitions at a professional conference. She was immediately fascinated by the idea. Then, over Christmas punch, she brought it up as a discussion topic and asked whether we'd like to join her and start a team." Other members soon joined, each bringing their own expertise. "Although I study IT, I'm also deeply interested in 3D printing, engineering, and engine design. When I heard the team needed someone to help with the rocket design and CAD models, I immediately volunteered," said Štěpán Oram. All team members are motivated by the opportunity to gain experience far beyond traditional computer science and by the chance not only to develop software, but to integrate it into a complete hardware and mechanical system that literally takes flight.

Working on such a demanding project while studying information technology, especially during the first year of university, is no easy task. Faculty coursework already comes with strict deadlines, while the rocket project adds dozens of hours of development and testing, often at the expense of weekends and sleep. "Watching your own work come to life in the real world is our greatest motivation. In IT, you usually only see the result as text or graphics on a screen. The moment you connect a circuit board you designed yourself, upload your own software, and then watch the rocket successfully launch, communicate, and send you live telemetry data is simply indescribable," said David Alois Bureš, describing what drives the entire team.

The team sees this year's Czech Rocket Challenge as a launching pad for future projects and a valuable source of know-how. "Our original goal was simply to find out whether it was possible to combine two seemingly different worlds and learn something new in the process. Through the competition we gained a solid foundation in rocket engineering, tested our systems in real conditions, and strengthened our teamwork. In the long term, however, our dream is to move on to much larger and more complex projects. As for rocketry, we'd love to qualify for one of the major international competitions next year," said Petra Továrková, outlining the team's ambitions to promote computer science and software engineering within the space industry. Space exploration is no longer just about mechanical engineering – software now plays a critical role. "That's the message we want to share with our fellow FIT students and with the wider public," Petra concluded.
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Source: Faculty of Information Technology

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Published	2026-07-16 08:18
Link	https://www.vut.cz/en/but/f19528/d348293