CARL (Competing Aachen Rocket Launcher) was STA's first experience with high-power rocketry. CARL was designed to compete in internal rocketry competition and reach an apogee of 3 km through the use of a bought solid-propellant engine, producing up to 2400 N of thrust. Originally meant to be launched at the SPAC 2020, which was cancelled due to Covid, CARL flew at the very first edition of the European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC) in 2020. STA was one of only three teams which managed to successfully launch their rocket, and one of two which managed to recover their rocket entirely. The CARL rocket can still be seen at our events, where we'll gladly tell you all about the rocket in person.The CARL 2 rocket was the follow-up project to STA's first competition rocket. Its design was based on that of CARL, with minor improvements in terms of manufacturing and ease of assembly. CARL 2 also featured an Altitude Control System in the form of airbrakes, meant to help the rocket reach its apogee of 3 km as precisely as possible. CARL 2 was successfully launched at the European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC) in 2021 and flew to an apogee of roughly 2.9 km. Sadly, a failure in the main parachute deployment caused by excessive spin resulted in the rocket landing at above nominal speeds, resulting in a rupture of one of the body tubes. Nevertheless, all flight data was recovered and CARL 2's launch remains one of the greatest successes of STA.
