Due to unfavorable weather, this launch has been postponed until October 29th. Please refer to the new event in the events tab.

The VRA launch scheduled for Serpentine Saturday 15 October 2022 is CANCELLED This is extremely disappointing and the decision has not been taken lightly. We have been in constant contact with the owner of the range over the last few weeks and have offered a number of suggestions to minimise damage to the farm. Unfortunately the range is absolutely saturated from recent rains and more is expected in the area this week. The Lodden River has flooded a number of farms in the area and the farmer and local community have commenced flood mitigation activities. This was the last opportunity to fly at Serpentine this year.   The good news is that we still have three launches scheduled for the Drouin Range with the next scheduled for the following Saturday, 22 October, and the Drouin range is less affected by rain. Don't forget to register. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have scheduled a launch at Serpentine for Saturday the 15th of October.  This is subject to confirmation from the landowner that conditions on the farm are suitable.  We will provide updates on our Facebook page and on our Events web page as the launch gets closer.   The launch window will be open between 10am and 5pm. The flyers briefing will begin at 10am. The range will open immediately after the briefing. If you are planning on launching: it is mandatory to attend the 10am safety briefing. You must have your Tripoli Membership card with you showing your current level, or an image of the membershipc ard from the your profile on the Tripoli website. ************************************************************************ IMPORTANT: This event is subject to weather and may be postponed or cancelled. Confirmation will be made on Wednesday evening (October 12th) with updates on social media and this event page. ************************************************************************* Launch Site Location: Our Serpentine launch site is located approximately 43km from Bendigo along the Loddon Valley highway. For those heading out of Melbourne, drive to Bendigo, and then out through Eaglehawk along the Loddon Valley highway (B260), after approximately 30 mins start looking for a bridge over “Bullock Creek” 3.5km from this bridge you will see a cluster of trees, and on your right you will see a gate, you can enter through this gate and drive to the launch site. Please approach the site slowly as we all don’t want to be covered in dust, and there maybe cables across the road. If you miss this entrance 6.5km from the creek you will see another entrance to your right, drive in through here and then right out along the track past the harvester shed, follow the road along the edge of the field until it makes a right hand turn, continue to follow this until your reach the intersection, where you will find our range head. If you continue down the highway and your reach “Serpentine” you have gone too far! For Serpentine the GPS coordinate of the entry gate is -36.50066, 144.01692 https://www.google.com/maps/place/36%C2%B030'02.4%22S+144%C2%B001'00.9%22E/@-36.50066,144.0147313,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x5c37ecb02ea5b157!8m2!3d-36.50066!4d144.01692 Keep your eyes open for the club sign identifying the usual access to the range off the highway. A modified (shorter) Flyers Briefing will be held at 10.00am sharp and anyone planning to fly must attend the briefing. Certification Flights Please let us know if you will be attempting to Certify. Members attempting Level 2 are requested to arrange with David Boyd to complete the written exam PRIOR to the launch weekend. Altitude The maximum altitude that we can fly is 23,500 feet AMSL. If you are planning flights above 10,000 ft please notify us in advance. Registration To help us plan the launch, please register for this event. We just need to know how many will be coming in your group/family and if you are happy to volunteer to help out in one of the roles over the weekend. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us via our website, facebook or instagram. We look forward to seeing you there!

Unfortunately due to significant recent rains at our Serpentine launch site, and the pre-existing saturated condition of the farm, we have to cancel this Sunday's launch. This was to be our final launch at Serpentine for 2022, due to the crop height and pending fire season.  However we are looking at possible options for having a launch either 1 week or 2 weeks later.  More information will follow. -------------------------------------------------------- The launch window will be open between 10am and 5pm. The flyers briefing will begin at 10am range will open immediately after the briefing. If you are planning on launching, it is mandatory to attend the briefing.   ************************************************************************ IMPORTANT: This event is subject to weather and may be postponed a week. Confirmation will be made on Thursday evening (September29th) with updates on social media and this event page. *************************************************************************   Launch Site Location: Our Serpentine launch site is located approximately 43km from Bendigo along the Loddon Valley highway. For those heading out of Melbourne, drive to Bendigo, and then out through Eaglehawk along the Loddon Valley highway (B260), after approximately 30 mins start looking for a bridge over “Bullock Creek” 3.5km from this bridge you will see a cluster of trees, and on your right you will see a gate, you can enter through this gate and drive to the launch site. Please approach the site slowly as we all don’t want to be covered in dust, and there maybe cables across the road. If you miss this entrance 6.5km from the creek you will see another entrance to your right, drive in through here and then right out along the track past the harvester shed, follow the road along the edge of the field until it makes a right hand turn, continue to follow this until your reach the intersection, where you will find our range head. If you continue down the highway and your reach “Serpentine” you have gone too far! For Serpentine the GPS coordinate of the entry gate is -36.50066, 144.01692 https://www.google.com/maps/place/36%C2%B030'02.4%22S+144%C2%B001'00.9%22E/@-36.50066,144.0147313,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x5c37ecb02ea5b157!8m2!3d-36.50066!4d144.01692   Keep your eyes open for the club sign identifying the usual access to the range off the highway. A modified (shorter) Flyers Briefing will be held at 10.00am sharp and anyone planning to fly must attend the briefing.   Certification Flights Please let us know if you will be attempting to Certify. Members attempting Level 2 are requested to arrange with David Boyd to complete the written exam PRIOR to the launch weekend.   Altitude The maximum altitude that we can fly is 23,500 feet AMSL.   Registration To help us plan the launch, please register for this event. We just need to know how many will be coming in your group/family and if you are happy to volunteer to help out in one of the roles over the weekend.   If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us via our website, facebook or instagram.   We look forward to seeing you there!

The flyers briefing will begin at 8:30am and the range will open from 9am until 2:00pm. As the briefing includes critical information for flyers, anyone wishing to fly MUST be on-site to attend the briefing. Range setup will begin at 7:30am.   *************************************** Please note, this event is subject to weather and can be postponed a week. Confirmation will be made on this Thursday evening prior to launch (September 8th) with upadtes on social media and this event page. ***************************************   Altitude: The launch ceiling for the Drouin site is 8,000 ft.   Registration: To help us plan the launch, please register for the event. We just need to know how many will be coming in your group/family. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us through our website, facebook or instagram. We look forward to seeing you there!

Join us for a social get together and presentations at The Golden Gate Hotel in South Melbourne. Spaceport America is the world's largest intercollegiate rocket engineering competition. Over 1,700 students and faculty gathered in Southern New Mexico for the annual Spaceport America Cup. Drawn by the opportunity to collaborate and compete at a world-class spaceport facility, they represent the best and brightest from more than 150 institutions located all across the world. Three Australian universities associated with the Victorian Rocketry Association travelled to Spaceport America this year and all came back with prizes, including winner of the 30,000 feet COTS price and overall winner of the cup. You will hear presentations about their rocketry entries and modelling, their odyssey travelling to and from the cup in New Mexico, and their overall adventures at the event. Our presentations will be from: University of Sydney Rocketry Team - Alison Lockley & Vismay Bhadra Melbourne University ARES - Harrison Dean Monash University HPR - Isaac Alderton We will also have a presentation by Isaac Sim from the VRA's committee about flying rockets at VRA/Tripoli events and the considerations you should take into account for your first rocket build and first flights, and also the steps you need to take to achieve succesful certifications.  This will be aimed at new VRA members and university students that are just beginning their journey with High Power Rocketry. You must register to attend this event by buying a FREE ticket. Click on the link below to begin the registration. The event is open to anybody including non-members of VRA. We hope to get a good attendance at the event as we must meet minimal spend requirements with the venue to enable us to use their facilities and have ongoing events like this. Detailed Agenda 6:30        30min    Informal event start – people can order meals and drinks and socialise. 7:00        15min    Welcome and a quick update on VRA activities and projects – David Boyd 7:15        25min    Monash HPR – Isaac Alderton 7:40        25min    Melbourne ARES - Harrison 8:05        15min    Break 8:20        30min    USYD – Vismay Bhadra 8:45        20min    Preparing for your first rocket flights, and an introduction to the certification process – Isaac Sim 9:05                        Meeting concludes – social time 9:30                        Use of venue ends.  

The flyers briefing will begin at 8:30am and the range will open from 9am until 2:00pm. As the briefing includes critical information for flyers, anyone wishing to fly MUST be on-site to attend the briefing. Range setup will begin at 7:30am.   *************************************** Please note, this event is subject to weather and can be postponed a week. Confirmation will be made on this Thursday evening prior to launch (September 8th) with upadtes on social media and this event page. ***************************************   Altitude: The launch ceiling for the Drouin site is 8,000 ft.   Registration: To help us plan the launch, please register for the event. We just need to know how many will be coming in your group/family. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us through our website, facebook or instagram. We look forward to seeing you there!

The launch window will be open between 10am and 5pm. The flyers briefing will begin at 10am range will open immediately after the briefing. If you are planning on launching, it is mandatory to attend the briefing.   ************************************************************************ IMPORTANT: This event is subject to weather and may be postponed a week. Confirmation will be made on Thursday evening (August 25th) with updates on social media and this event page. *************************************************************************   Launch Site Location: Our Serpentine launch site is located approximately 43km from Bendigo along the Loddon Valley highway. For those heading out of Melbourne, drive to Bendigo, and then out through Eaglehawk along the Loddon Valley highway (B260), after approximately 30 mins start looking for a bridge over “Bullock Creek” 3.5km from this bridge you will see a cluster of trees, and on your right you will see a gate, you can enter through this gate and drive to the launch site. Please approach the site slowly as we all don’t want to be covered in dust, and there maybe cables across the road. If you miss this entrance 6.5km from the creek you will see another entrance to your right, drive in through here and then right out along the track past the harvester shed, follow the road along the edge of the field until it makes a right hand turn, continue to follow this until your reach the intersection, where you will find our range head. If you continue down the highway and your reach “Serpentine” you have gone too far! For Serpentine the GPS coordinate of the entry gate is -36.50066, 144.01692 https://www.google.com/maps/place/36%C2%B030'02.4%22S+144%C2%B001'00.9%22E/@-36.50066,144.0147313,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x5c37ecb02ea5b157!8m2!3d-36.50066!4d144.01692   Keep your eyes open for the club sign identifying the usual access to the range off the highway. A modified (shorter) Flyers Briefing will be held at 10.00am sharp and anyone planning to fly must attend the briefing.   Certification Flights Please let us know if you will be attempting to Certify. Members attempting Level 2 are requested to arrange with David Boyd to complete the written exam PRIOR to the launch weekend.   Altitude The maximum altitude that we can fly is 23,500 feet AMSL.   Registration To help us plan the launch, please register for this event. We just need to know how many will be coming in your group/family and if you are happy to volunteer to help out in one of the roles over the weekend.   If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us via our website, facebook or instagram.   We look forward to seeing you there!

The launch scheduled for this Sunday 21 August is POSTPONED to the following Sunday 28 August. Please register for the Sunday August 28th event instead on this one! Unfortunately the tracks at the range are still very wet. Those who attended the last launch will recall the difficulties waiting for the tracks to dry sufficiently to shuttle flyers in 4WD vehicles to the Flight Line and the late start. Despite a great afternoon flying in clear blue skies, we caused some damage to the tracks. While this was unprecedented in all our years flying at Serpentine, the same conditions are very likely this weekend.

Serpentine Rocket Launch Join us for our next rocket launch event at our Serpentine launch site. You must register for this event.