What is QPL ?
Queen’s Propulsion Laboratory was founded in 2023 by 5 students from Queen’s University Belfast with the goal of launching a rocket past the Karman line, 100 km above the Earth.
Since then the team has evolved into a multi-disciplinary group which supports the education of students in space related STEM activities. With over 30 members, QPL is the largest student rocketry team in Northern Ireland and is one of the fastest growing in the UK.
Our story
From humble beginnings to competitors on a national stage, QPL has grown exponentially in the year since it was founded.
Initially a team under the QUB Aerospace Society, QPL has expanded and now spans across several divisions competing in the most prestigious university competitions across the UK.
The QPL habit of setting ‘firsts’ began before the organisation even existed. The founders of QPL met while competing in the Airbus Space Competition in 2023, the first ever entry from Northern Ireland.
After spending 6 months designing a platform for in-space assembly, the team finished runners-up and with the prize money they revitalised the Aerospace Society at QUB.
The passion and determination brought to the society inspired an inital team of 20 students to sign up, a number which rose to 30 after a second recruitment period.
Since conception, QPL’s combination of ambition and professionalism has attracted both students and sponsors alike and enabled the team to stand and compete with the UK’s most established university teams
QPL is hosted as a society in the QUB Student’s Union and is exclusively student run with an academic supervisor to liaise with the university.
