Jamaica's First High-Powered Rocketry Organisation
Building the next generation of Caribbean aerospace engineers through hands-on rocketry education and competition.
The Caribbean Apex Challenge brings teams from across Jamaica together to design, build, and launch high-powered rockets in a single-day competition on August 16, 2026.
Explore Competition →We develop and test KNSB composite propulsion systems built in Jamaica. Our 34 mm F-class motors are designed, manufactured, and validated by our own research team.
View Technology →Join our team of engineers, educators, and organizers helping to build the first structured high-powered rocketry programme in Jamaica.
Volunteer Now →Lignum Propulsion is Jamaica's first high-powered rocketry organisation, established to advance STEM education through practical aerospace engineering. We build real rockets, test real motors, and inspire the next generation of Jamaican scientists and engineers.
Our work bridges the gap between classroom theory and real-world application. Every launch is a lesson in physics, chemistry, and engineering design.
Who We Are
A team of engineers and educators united by a single ambition: to put Jamaica on the aerospace map.
Lignum Propulsion was founded to fill a gap that has long existed in Caribbean STEM education: access to practical, hands-on aerospace engineering. We design and build rockets, develop our own propulsion systems, and run the competitive infrastructure that motivates young people to pursue science and engineering.
The name "Lignum" is a nod to Jamaica's national tree, the Lignum Vitae - one of the hardest and most resilient woods on earth. We chose it to reflect our commitment to building something enduring right here in Jamaica.
We engineer our own KNSB composite motors, airframes, recovery systems, and avionics. Every component flown at LNRC is locally produced and validated by our team.
We build curriculum, run workshops, and mentor teams through their first build. Aerospace engineering is taught by people who actually fly rockets.
The national competition. Standardised motor, free to enter, judged on precision and recovery. The proving ground for the next generation of Jamaican aerospace engineers.
Every project we undertake is a learning opportunity. We document our work, share our findings, and build curriculum that makes aerospace engineering accessible to all Jamaican students.
We don't import solutions. We build them. From propellant formulation to airframe fabrication, we develop capabilities locally using materials and methods suited to the Caribbean context.
High-powered rocketry is a serious discipline. We operate to international safety standards, maintain rigorous testing protocols, and prioritise the safety of our members and the public at every launch.
Our strength comes from our community. We welcome engineers, educators, students, and enthusiasts at every level. If you want to build, you have a place here.
Caribbean Apex Challenge
Jamaica's first national high-powered rocketry competition. Build a real rocket. Fly a real payload. Launch from Morant Point on August 16, 2026.
LNRC 2026 is the first time anyone in Jamaica has been able to design, build, and fly a real high-powered rocket as part of a national competition. Your team will be handed a real motor, real avionics, and a real airframe kit. You will spend three months building it, simulating it, and arguing about it. Then on August 16, you stand on the coast at Morant Point and watch it fly.
The mission: hit exactly 300 m, eject your PicoSat at apogee so it logs the descent, predict its landing coordinate to the metre, and recover a raw egg intact. Lowest score wins - because in real aerospace, precision matters more than power.
This is the kind of thing that ends up on a university application. It's also free.
Registration opens via the LIGNUM website. Teams need a minimum of 2 members. There is no maximum team size, no student requirement, and no faculty advisor requirement. There is no registration fee. Registration closes when capacity is reached.
The Rules Q&A system opens at www.lignumpropulsion.com. Moderators answer team questions every Monday and close the weekly cycle on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. Jamaica Time.
Registered teams receive their competition kit, which includes 3 LP-KNSB-34-165 motors, both 2-inch and 3-inch body tubes and ogive nose cones, the Arduino-based PicoSat avionics, sensors (BMP280, MPU-6050), parachute fabric, and all components needed to build the rocket and PicoSat. Teams may use their motors for test flights at their own discretion.
Single-day event. Morning: safety inspections and pre-launch checks. Afternoon: flight windows. Evening: results and awards ceremony.
The full breakdown: airframe classes, motor specifications, recovery requirements, and the inverted scoring system used to determine the class champions.
Teams choose between two rocket classes based on airframe inner diameter. The 2-inch class rewards precision engineering in a compact form. The 3-inch class allows greater internal volume for payload integration and recovery packing. Each class is judged independently with its own winner.
Every team uses the same Lignum Propulsion KNSB composite motor: LP-KNSB-34-165, a 34 mm x 165 mm F-class motor delivering approximately 79 N average thrust over a 0.84 s burn (~69 Ns total impulse). Standardising the motor means the winner is determined by airframe design, mass management, and recovery strategy, not motor selection.
Teams build their airframe from approved materials: cardboard or phenolic body tube, fibreglass, PVC, plywood, balsa, or corrugated plastic. The kit includes an ogive nose cone sized to the registered class; alternate nose cone geometries require Q&A approval. Fin count and shape are free, provided fins are symmetrically spaced and securely bonded. A rail button or launch lug is required. Teams must simulate their rocket before competition day to verify altitude and stability.
Dual recovery is mandatory: the rocket body and the PicoSat each need their own independent recovery system. Main parachute deployment and PicoSat ejection are both controlled by the onboard avionics flight computer. The motor has no ejection delay charge. Any component striking the ground without a deployed parachute is a safety violation and disqualifies the flight.
Each team receives one official launch attempt on competition day. Teams are responsible for all pre-launch assembly and checklist completion. The Lead Rocket Inspector inspects every rocket before it is cleared to fly.
LNRC uses an inverted scoring system - the lowest final score wins. Penalties are added for altitude deviation and landing-prediction error; bonuses are subtracted for egg survival and PicoSat data quality. See the full scoring breakdown below.
All teams must simulate their rocket before competition day. Simulation is a safety requirement, not optional. It tells you how high your rocket will fly so you can tune your design to hit the 300 m apogee target, and verifies that your rocket is stable before it leaves the rail.
We recommend OpenRocket, the free, open-source rocketry simulation tool used by student teams worldwide. Download it at openrocket.info. Model your exact rocket geometry, load the LP-KNSB-34-165 motor file, and run altitude and stability simulations before you finalise your airframe design.
All teams must comply with the following minimum specifications.
| Specification | 2-Inch Class | 3-Inch Class |
|---|---|---|
| Body Tube Inner Diameter | 2.0 in (50.8 mm) | 3.0 in (76.2 mm) |
| Minimum Rocket Height | 90 cm (~3 ft) | 90 cm (~3 ft) |
| Maximum Rocket Height | 168 cm (~5.5 ft) | 168 cm (~5.5 ft) |
| Motor Mount Inner Diameter | 34 mm | 34 mm |
| Nose Cone | Ogive (kit-supplied); alternates require Q&A approval | Ogive (kit-supplied); alternates require Q&A approval |
| Fin Geometry | Any (symmetrically spaced, securely bonded) | Any (symmetrically spaced, securely bonded) |
| Recovery System | Dual recovery (required) | Dual recovery (required) |
| Launch Interface | Rail button or launch lug | Rail button or launch lug |
| Airframe Material | Cardboard/phenolic, fibreglass, PVC, plywood, balsa, or corrugated plastic | Cardboard/phenolic, fibreglass, PVC, plywood, balsa, or corrugated plastic |
Provided to all teams. Three motors per kit. May be used for test flights and practice at team discretion.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Designation | LP-KNSB-34-165 |
| Propellant Type | KNSB (Potassium Nitrate / Sorbitol composite) |
| Casing Material | Linen Phenolic |
| Casing Outer Diameter | 34 mm |
| Casing Length | 165 mm (16.5 cm) |
| Propellant Mass | ~77 g |
| Average Thrust | ~79 N |
| Burn Duration | ~0.84 seconds |
| Total Impulse | ~69 Ns |
| Motor Classification | F-class (per NAR/TRA) |
The motor has no ejection delay charge. All deployment events (main parachute, PicoSat ejection) are triggered by the onboard avionics flight computer.
The lowest final score wins. Final Score = (Altitude Penalty + Accuracy Penalty) - (Bonuses Earned). Bonuses are large, so a well-executed flight produces a strongly negative score.
| Tier | Altitude Range | Score Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect Tier | 290 m to 310 m | -1,000 points (maximum bonus) |
| High Tier | 250-289 m or 311-350 m | -500 points |
| Mid Tier | 200-249 m or 351-400 m | -300 points |
| Baseline | 100-199 m or 401+ m | -100 points |
| Disqualified | Below 100 m or total vehicle loss | 0 points (no bonus) |
Before launch each team submits a Predicted Landing Coordinate (PLC) - the exact location where they expect the PicoSat to land. The penalty is:
Example: 10 m off target = 100 penalty points. 25 m off = 250 penalty points. 50 m off = 500 penalty points.
Raw egg payload recovered with no cracks or leaks visible to the naked eye on inspection by a flight official.
Complete, clean dataset (altitude, temperature, humidity) covering the full descent from apogee to landing.
Well-labelled, clearly presented graphs of all three sensor streams submitted at the post-flight data window. Up to -200 pts.
There is no registration fee. Participation is free for all eligible teams. Register at lignumpropulsion.com.
All three documents are authoritative for LNRC 2026. Teams should read the Game Manual in full. The Rules Summary and Kit Contents documents are companion references.
The full, authoritative rulebook for the Caribbean Apex Challenge. Covers eligibility, technical requirements, scoring, safety, and event procedures.
Download PDF →Quick-reference summary of the most-asked competition rules. Use this for a fast lookup; the Game Manual is the source of truth.
Download PDF →Component-by-component listing of every part inside the competition kit, plus parachute assembly guidance and non-kit component rules.
Download PDF →Price list (JMD) for replacement and additional parts beyond the kit - sensors, batteries, body tubes, nose cones, motors, and custom 3D-printed parts.
Download PDF →Help us run the event - engineers, educators, photographers, and event-day support all welcome.
Research and Development
Pioneering sustainable rocket propulsion from Jamaican biomass.
Our primary research focuses on a novel hybrid rocket propellant derived from pyrolised coconut husk, a renewable agricultural waste material abundant across the Caribbean. The fuel grain is paired with a manganese-guanine catalyst and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂, 85–90%) as a clean oxidiser, producing a propellant that is renewable, non-toxic, and locally manufacturable.
When ignited, the hydrogen peroxide decomposes into water and oxygen, eliminating the chlorine and nitrogen-based pollutants that conventional propellants release directly into the stratosphere. This makes our system one of the cleanest hybrid propellant configurations currently under active investigation.
Conventional rocket propellants (RP-1, hydrazine, ammonium perchlorate composites) release carbon dioxide, soot, and nitrogen oxides into the stratosphere, where recovery takes decades. Research shows a 1% rise in global rocket launches increases greenhouse gas emissions by 1.13%.
Approximately 20 million tons of coconut waste is produced annually worldwide, most of it discarded or burned. By pyrolising this waste, we produce a carbon-rich fuel grain suited for hybrid combustion, turning an agricultural byproduct into aerospace technology and using Jamaica as the proving ground.
Our formal research investigates both the combustion performance and the full environmental impact of the coconut husk / Mn-Gu + H₂O₂ propellant system in an active subscale hybrid motor. This fills a genuine gap, as no prior study has experimentally validated this propellant combination with a life cycle environmental assessment.
Key targets include achieving a Specific Impulse ≥ 80% of the HTPB/N₂O baseline, combustion efficiency ≥ 70%, and a Weighted Emission Index at least 40% lower than conventional propellants, while keeping fuel synthesis cost at or below USD 20/kg.
Join the Team
Help us build Jamaica's first organised high-powered rocketry programme. We need engineers, educators, photographers, and organisers.
We're a small, ambitious team. Whether you contribute technical expertise or logistical support, your time makes a real difference.
Get hands-on with the rockets. Help run motor static fires, review team airframe designs, work through stability and trajectory calculations, set up data-logging instrumentation, or audit our pre-flight safety procedures. Engineers, physicists, chemists, machinists, and skilled builders all welcome - if you know how things work mechanically or electronically, you fit here.
Develop curriculum, run school workshops, mentor competing teams, or help us communicate rocketry concepts to young students across Jamaica.
Range safety, logistics coordination, registration management, and competition day operations for LNRC 2026.
Photography, videography, social media, and documentation. Help us tell the story of high-powered rocketry in Jamaica.
Register your team for the Lignum National Rocketry Competition 2026. Team registration opens May 16, 2026. There is no registration fee. Slots are limited, so complete this form to secure your place.
Have a question about the competition rules? Anyone can submit, including teams, educators, or interested participants. The Q&A system opens May 30, 2026.
Team registration for LNRC 2026 opens May 16, 2026. There is no registration fee. Follow the steps below to prepare your entry.
Assemble a team of at least 2 members. There is no maximum team size, no student requirement, and no faculty advisor requirement.
Decide whether your team will compete in the 2-inch or 3-inch airframe class. Review the technical specifications on the Competition page before committing. Your kit will include both body tube sizes.
Once registration opens, complete the official team registration form. Slots are limited. There is no registration fee.
For updates on registration, rules, and timelines, email us at lignumpropulsion@gmail.com or submit a question via the Q&A system (opens May 30, 2026).