News

2022 Spaceport America Cup Revised Scoring

8/7/2022

Upon further review, we found a number of discrepancies in the awarding of the efficient launch bonus. Unfortunately, because we had conflicting information between the launch spotter and recovery records, it was impossible to sort out the differences. This issue has both helped some teams and disadvantaged others.

Accordingly, and to be fair to all teams, we have decided to zero out that bonus category. By and large, this made no change to the category winners, with one exception, where the runner-up did change. Rather than remove the runner-up trophy from that school, we have decided to award a 2nd runner-up trophy in the 10K-SRAD-Hybrid/Liquid to McGill University.

Revised scores are posted on the Events page.

2022 Spaceport America Cup Lessons Learned

7/15/2022

From the ESRA President's Desk:

This year's competition was filled with many firsts and challenges we've never faced before as an organization. We had more teams than ever in the history of IREC. We had our first significant weather delay losing over a full day in getting rockets into the air. We faced logistical challenges that meant, to preserve the integrity of the competition, a delay in announcing the final awards winners until all data was collected and verified. All in all, while it was a challenging event for the teams and for ESRA, I'm proud at what we've all accomplished together. We're already taking these lessons to heart for 2023 and looking forward to an even stronger competition!

On an additional note, several hybrid teams were faced with last minute insurance issues. I want to personally assure you that ESRA is very committed to fostering and supporting all hybrid teams to the best of our ability. We are taking steps to resolve this issue going forward. There have been some rumors that our friends at the Tripoli Rocketry Association (TRA) were a cause for the delays. That information is absolutely incorrect, in fact if it had not been for the support of TRA (and many ESRA volunteers are members of TRA already) and their expertise in the field of amateur high power rocketry, we simply could not safely conduct the competition.

A huge thank you goes out TRA and also to the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) for their strong support and guidance to ESRA for Spaceport America Cup. We couldn't do it without you.

Go nominal!
Cliff Olmsted

2022 Spaceport America Cup Results Updates!

7/15/2022

Spaceport America Cup wrapped up in the 3rd week of June and the online awards ceremony for the category winners and the winner of the Genesis Cup Trophy for the overall Spaceport America Cup winner is coming soon!

You can catch the 2022 Spaceport America Cup brought to you by Sierra Space, Awards Ceremony, LIVE on YouTube this Saturday, July 16, 2022, at noon MT.
Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_vIuR4516Q

2022 Spaceport America Cup Application Deadline is October 15!

10/14/2021

ESRA and Spaceport America are looking forward to the 2022 Spaceport America Cup after we have taken a hiatus from in-person competitions for the past 2 years! The deadline is soon, October 15! Be sure to apply on the 2022 HeroX website at www.herox.com/SpaceportAmericaCup2022 and we'll look forward to reviewing your applications!

2021 Virtual Spaceport America Cup Winners!

6/20/2021

ESRA is proud to announce the winners of the 2021 Virtual Spaceport America Cup! By all accounts it was an excellent competition (short of actually being together in person). Head over to our events page to see the results.

Thank you to all 75 teams who participated!

Also, dates for the 2022 competition have been set! We'll see you June 21-25 in Las Cruces!

2021 Virtual Spaceport America Cup Tickets are Live!

4/19/2021

We've been very busy behind the scenes gearing up for an exciting virtual competition as well as, for the first time every, lining up a series of fantastic keynote speakers and technical forum topics for this special 3 day event!

Visit https://www.accelevents.com/e/2021VirtualSpaceportAmericaCup to purchase a team or general admission ticket! All competing teams must purchase at least 1 team ticket which includes a block of 10 individual tickets valid for all 3 days of the event. Additional team or individual student tickets can be purchased for larger teams.

General Admission tickets are for interested public, friends, and family. All tickets are valid for the full 3 days of the event!

Official Spaceport America Cup 2021 Participants

10/28/2020

This is it. We know you've been waiting, and ESRA has been working late into the evenings reviewing all team applications. Congratulations to the 150 teams selected to compete in the 2021 Spaceport America Cup!

The complete list of teams and team IDs is available on the Spaceport America Cup 2021 event page.

Below is the breakdown of team locations and competition categories. This year, 125 teams are joining us again from last year's canceled event while we also welcome 25 new teams. All together, 63% of the student teams are from colleges and universities across the United States while 36% are international from across the planet. ESRA along with Spaceport America, Space Dynamics Laboratory, our sponsors, and our vendors cannot wait to see what you bring to the competition. Let's get started!

2021 Spaceport America Cup and Tripoli Rocketry Association

10/13/2020

Summary
The Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA), Spaceport America, and the Tripoli Rocketry Association (TRA) are now formally working together to continue to improve overall flight safety and efficient flight operations at the annual Spaceport America Cup. In addition, student teams flying in the Commercial Off the Shelf(COTS) and Student Research and Design SOLID(SRAD SOLID) categories will begin flying under TRA flight code. Details of how this impacts competing teams are described below.

Background
TRA, Spaceport America, and ESRA all share common goals to create safe and exciting launch opportunities for the next generation of Aerospace engineers as they progress from hobby to industry environments. Our organizations are highly aligned: ESRA provides the educational framework and administration of the world’s largest international collegiate rocketry event; TRA provides the safety/flight operations framework, incredible membership expertise and an amazing insurance program; and Spaceport America provides a world-class facility and support. Stated simply, we have assembled outstanding partners to build and safely operate the greatest rocketry competition in history.

The Spaceport America Cup has relied on the TRA safety code and membership expertise/guidance to create a safe launching environment for its event since 2017. The Cup’s Range Safety and Launch Operations teams are filled with a significant number of Senior Level 3 high power rocketry experts (>30). A growing number of competing teams utilize TRA prefectures for mentorship, certification flights and test flights of their competition projects.

Benefits:

Student Team Liability Insurance - In previous years, students were either insured by their university or through a 3rd party insurance provider. By becoming a TRA student member and following the TRA Safety code, the student is insured by TRA’s insurance program. TRA insurance covers COTS and SRAD solid flights. TRA insurance DOES NOT cover SRAD hybrid and liquid teams or flights.

Student teams will have improved access to TRA mentors, certifications, and launch sites - TRA has a growing list of US and international prefectures with active launch sites. Student teams are highly recommended to engage with their local TRA prefectures for mentoring, certification flights and additional launch experience.

Tripoli Flight Requirements for COTS and SRAD Solid Categories:

Certified Level 3 Flyer of Record (3 options)
1. HIGHLY Recommended - each team will secure a Level 3 certified TRA or NAR (COTS Only) Senior mentor who works closely with the team and is present at the launch. Student teams ARE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to subsidize the travel expenses of their mentor, to and from the event.
2. Recommended - team will have a TRA or NAR (COTS Only) Level 3 certified student member at the launch.
3. Last option (only for international teams who do not have access to TRA prefectures) - ESRA Range Safety team members, who are Level 3 certified TRA or NAR (COTS Only) Senior members, will virtually mentor the team throughout the year and will be present for the final flight safety inspections and launch.
TRA (or NAR) Student Membership
1. TRA Student membership is $10 per year per student. NAR is $25.
2. The HPR Level 3 certified student or mentor shall lead and supervise all launch preparation, pad loading and recovery activities. A maximum of 5 additional team members who are TRA or NAR(COTS only) student members may be on the pad loading team, recovery team, or working with the energetics (motor, ejection charges). These student team members do not have to be HPR certified but must be TRA or NAR(COTS only) student members. All students are highly recommended to secure HPR certification.
3. Link to the TRA Student Membership application
  
  TRA Membership

Frequently Asked Questions:

Why are we making this change?
One of ESRA’s primary goals is to foster a healthy engineering competition by conducting what has become the Spaceport America Cup. Our desire is also to find ways to minimize costs to student teams. Put simply, there has been no widely available and cost effective insurance solution for student teams. Working with TRA and formally adopting the requirements above permits teams to be covered by the TRA insurance policy for COTS and SRAD SOLID rockets. Hybrid and liquid teams must still work with their universities to find suitable insurance policies.
Why are hybrids and liquid rockets excluded from this policy change?
TRA brings world-class expertise in the area of COTS and SRAD SOLID rocket motors. The policies and rules for solid motors are well established with a robust system of mentors and specific certification levels. Liquid and hybrid rockets are inherently more complex with dangers and risks that are substantially different from solid motors. No hybrid/liquid rocket organization yet exists that has standardized on safety rules and established formal certifications based on levels of expertise and experience. ESRA is committed to continuing to search for viable means to support the establishment of such an organization.
Is it acceptable if an international team (COTS or SRAD solid category) has identified a Level 3 certified Tripoli or NAR (COTS only) mentor who is not an ESRA Range Safety team member?
ABSOLUTELY YES! As long as that the L3 certified mentor participates (virtually) throughout the design, manufacturing, testing of the project and attends (in person) the event with the team.

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Spaceport America Cup 2021 Registration Now Open!

10/2/2020

ESRA is proud to announce that registration for Spaceport America Cup is now open for all teams! As a reminder, over 90 percent of teams from 2020 chose to extend their registration to the 2021 competition. That means that very few spots are available for new teams to apply. ESRA will be reviewing new entries (teams that were not accepted or did not register for the 2020 event) very carefully and announcing the full team list in accordance with the Integrated Master Schedule available on our website (see http://www.soundingrocket.org/sa-cup-documents--forms.html)

ALL TEAMS MUST REGISTER ON THE NEW 2021 HEROX WEBSITE!
https://www.herox.com/SpaceportAmericaCup2021

On behalf of the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA), welcome. The 2021 Spaceport America Cup is just beginning!

Ad Astra Dr. Squires!

6/22/2020

ESRA is very saddened to learn than our own Nancy Squires passed away recently. Nancy was the Oregon State University’s team advisor and the chair of ESRA’s Academic Advisory Committee. Nancy has been involved with IREC and Spaceport America Cup for many years. She provided advice to hundreds of students and to ESRA to help shape the competition. Her passion, her support, her guidance, and her voice will be sorely missed. Our own Dustin Koehler created this tribute video. God’s speed Nancy. You are loved by so many.