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Help! Our 'record-breaking' rocket is lost in the North Sea

Steven McKenzie,Highlands and Islands reporterand
Chris MacLennan,BBC Scotland
News imageBen Adams Smoke trails from the orange rocket as it heads up into a blue sky.Ben Adams
Leeds University Rocketry Association's Gryphon II disappeared following its launch

For nine months, a group of engineering students worked to build a rocket which they hoped to send 50,000ft (15,240m) above the Earth.

The 13ft (4m) long Gryphon II (G2) was successfully launched from a military training range at Cape Wrath in the far north of Scotland on Friday.

But it did not splash down in the sea where they expected - and now members of Leeds University Rocketry Association (Lura) are hunting for their missing rocket.

Seb Bull, one of the students who has been searching for G2 with the help of a local fisherman, said: "It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. It's a large area of sea."

They had hoped to break a UK amateur altitude record but they need the rocket to verify the record.

They believe it may have washed up on the north Highland coast or drifted out to Orkney or Shetland.

News imageThe team members are sitting in a room with a white board behind them. Toby has closely cropped hair, a neatly trimmed beard and he is wearing a white T-shirt. Manon has long blonde hair and she is wearing a dark green coloured top. Seb has dark hair and he is wearing a dark blue T-shirt.
Lura team members Toby Thomson, Manon Kerr and Seb Bull have appealed to the public to look out for the rocket

Lura spent months preparing the rocket and had all the official permissions in place for the launch.

These included from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Ministry of Defence (MoD), which has a large weapons training area at Cape Wrath.

Lura were attempting to break a record of 45,000ft (13,716m).

They need the rocket and the data from its computers before the UK Rocketry Association will verify the height G2 reached.

News imageA map of Scotland showing Durness, Shetland, Orkney, Cape Wrath and Inverness.

The team said GPS tracking was lost shortly after launch, and G2 did not come back down on a parachute into the sea where it was expected to for recovery by boat.

The students suspect it splashed down off Durness and has either washed up along the nearby coast, or drifted towards the Northern Isles.

Bull said: "We expect it's had a successful flight and is sat out there floating on the sea."

Lura's Toby Thomson added: "It's bright orange, it says the University of Leeds on it, so it's pretty distinctive."

He asked anyone who finds it to contact the team.

News imageLura The area of the range is a large hilly and grassy area. There is a white-walled house and flag.Lura
News imageBen Adams A member of Lura wearing an orange T-shirt crouches down as they watch the orange G2 rocket launch from an area of shoreline at Cape Wrath. The rocket leaves a trail of white smoke.Ben Adams
The launch took place from Cape Wrath on Friday
Permission was secured from the CAA and MoD for the launch on the north Sutherland coast

Lura is a student-led rockets team based at the University of Leeds.

It designs, builds and flies small sub-orbital rockets.

The association's aim is to inspire a generation of engineers, astronauts and technicians who could one day go to Mars.

G2 is a carbon fibre rocket and recently flew at supersonic speed to 20,000ft (6,096m) above ground level at the Fairlie Moor Rocket Site in Largs.