UKSEDS National Rocketry Championship
The UK has a rapidly growing space launch capability, with spaceports now being actively developed and constructed across the country and with orbital launches to be expected soon. With these spaceports, many new rocket companies have also been established within the last few years, aiming to capture the constantly growing market demand for orbital launch capabilities.
UKSEDS created the National Rocketry Championships in 2013 with the aim of providing university students who have had no or limited experience in the field of rocketry hands-on experience in designing, building and launching a rocket.
Teams are challenged with designing, building and launching a mid-power rocket with the primary goal of reaching the greatest apogee possible. Motor selection will be limited to ensure a fair competition between teams. Teams must also have a payload on their rocket, to be more accurate to real rocket launches. Teams will also be required to submit a brief technical report detailing their design and build for evaluation by our skilled team of industry experts.
Mach X
The Mach-X Rocketry & CanSat Competition is run by Discover Space UK, Exotopic Ltd, Machrihanish Airbase Community Company and UKSEDS. The event provides university students an opportunity to develop practical, hands-on mechanical and electronics skills, with industrial technical support provided to the teams remotely.
Based at a future spaceport, Mach-X includes skills workshops supported by national space companies. The high power rocket-based event sees students design, build and launch a rocket and CanSat - a simulation of a real satellite integrated within the volume and shape of a can.
Students who successfully participate in the event improve their teamworking skills, practical and mechanical engineering skills, taking part in rocket launches and gaining an insight into careers in the UK Space Sector.
UKSEDS Olympus Rover Trials
The Olympus Rover Trials (ORT) challenge student teams to design, construct and operate a rover for an analogue sample return mission to Mars. Students create a rover concept, trade off performance parameters and pass through a rigorous review process with a panel of engineers from the space sector. The competition aims to:
- Challenge students to perform a complex systems engineering task of the development of a vehicle to a set of real space mission requirements;
- Enable students to apply taught technical skills and learn new ones relevant to a job in the space industry in an applicable project environment;
- Provide students with an opportunity to develop and practice other important and transferable skills, such as teamwork, leadership and project management;
- Foster interest in the activities of the space sector, especially in space engineering and robotics.
UKSEDS Satellite Design Competition
The Satellite Design Competition (SDC) tasks students and young professionals to design and build a CubeSat prototype based on a particular challenge and theme within the space industry. Previous years have explored the use of CubeSats to tackle to the growing problem of space debris, and explored using CubeSats to perform science experimentation around the Moon. The competition culminates in a one-day event where the team’s CubeSats are tested in a series of challenges, with awards given out to the best teams in a variety of categories.
The design work that students embark on is deliberately organised, in collaboration with our industry partners, to closely mimic the project workflow that is expected in the space sector. This includes the submission of a preliminary design review (PDR), a critical design review (CDR) and a test readiness review (TRR). With the additional support of industry professionals acting as mentors to the teams, students can expect to gain a wide range of valuable skills that would allow them to seamlessly transition into a role within the space industry
UKSEDS In-Orbit Servicing and Manufacturing
UKSEDS and Satellite Applications Catapult are collaborating to run a student competition on In-Orbit Servicing and Manufacturing. Students will be tasked to design and pitch a mission based in this emerging and exciting new field in the space industry. This gives them exposure to a broad range of topics, including space-based solar power, pharmaceuticals, active debris removal, and microgravity manufacturing.
The competition aims to give interdisciplinary teams, of at least 5 and up to 12 students, a stepping stone into the field, and experience in mission design, engineering, business development, and other industry-relevant skills.
Teams are allocated an industry mentor who will check in with them on a monthly basis to offer guidance and advice. There is no entry fee associated with this competition.
UK Space Design Competition
The UK Space Design Competition is a science, engineering and business challenge designed as a simulation of life in industry. Teams are given a list of requirements for a space settlement and are tasked with coming up with a detailed design which they present to a panel of judges from industry, academia and business.
Open to UK secondary and sixth form students (years 10 – 13), teams can enter the UKSDC via our regional or digital heats (introduced in 2020 to replace our usual regional heats in a COVID-secure way). Winning teams from these entry points take part in our national final; a residential competition weekend hosted by Imperial College London! A select group of winners are then invited to go from there to the International Space Settlement Design Competition (ISSDC) at a NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre.
We aim to deliver engaging events that showcase the value that students could gain from further study or careers in STEM disciplines. We hope you choose to join us on this journey!
Last year BristolSEDS supported the Cardiff regional of UKSDC, this year we are hosting our very own Bristol regional, for more information look here!
hope to be able to host our very own Bristol regional so stay tuned!
UK Race To Space
Providing student teams with:
- Free access to a hot-fire test
- Expert mentoring and guidance
- Cold flow testing and training
- Fantastic networking and knowledge exchange opportunities
- Direct links with the space industry in the UK
- The chance to massively accelerate teams’ engine capabilities
European Rocketry Challenge
The European Rocketry Challenge – EuRoC is the first rocket launch competition for European university teams. The Portuguese Space Agency created the competition in 2020 and has since gathered teams from various European countries in the Alentejo region. Based on constant and sustained growth, the 2023 edition of the competition has the support of the Portuguese Army and the Municipality of Constância.