I was born in Manchester in 1984. I have been interested in rockets from an early age. When I was 10 I received a model rocket kit. I launched hundreds of model rockets and then decided that I wanted to make much larger rockets to try to reach higher altitudes.
In 1995 my grandfather Sid Guy and I founded The Falcon Project. Between 1996 and 1998 we built and launched a number of rockets from the army ranges at Otterburn, Northumberland. The capabilities of the rockets quickly exceed the maximum permitted altitude for launches from Otterburn, which was 20,000 feet.
The test programme moved to ranges in the US, where it continues today. The early rockets used commercially available rocket motors, however we realised that to achieve our objective of reaching higher altitudes we would need to manufacture our own rocket motors. The Falcon Project set up a manufacturing facility in the US and began manufacturing solid propellant rocket motors for commercial and military applications. We also established research programmes into liquid and hybrid propellant rocket engines.
The Falcon Project Ltd now designs and manufactures custom solid, liquid and hybrid propellant rocket systems at facilities in the US and UK, with applications ranging from mine disposal and target drones to high altitude research rockets. I became involved with the BLOODHOUND Project in November 2005.
Daniel's datafile:
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Role: |
Rocket engine consultant |
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Qualifications: |
None |
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Who do you work with? |
Bloodhound design team, Falcon rocket engineers and designers, and sub contractors eg aerospace companies and specialist suppliers |
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What do you do? |
I run the Falcon Project which operates primarily in the UK and US. Falcon designs and manufactures solid propellant rocket motors. We have been working on the development of Bloodhound’s hybrid rocket. |
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What did you do before working on Bloodhound SSC? |
I founded the Falcon Project. |
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What’s best about being part of the Bloodhound SSC team? |
Helping to maintain the UK engineering capability by encouraging young people to get into engineering. |
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What do you do in your free time? |
I don’t have any! |
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What’s your favourite TV programme? |
Yes Minister |
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What kind of music do you like? |
None |
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What’s your favourite website? |
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What’s your favourite computer game? |
Halo 3 |
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Not many people know this but … |
… I don’t drive a car, in fact I have never even taken a driving lesson. |
