​Assist us in operating the world's largest international rocket engineering competition, the 2025 ESRA IREC. With over 150 teams competing from 22 countries, this competition attracts over 2,000 student competitors to West Texas.

Volunteer information can be found here.

Hello Rocketeers,

Thank you all for your patience while we prepared Pre-Registration. Pre-Registration is a little different this year, it will be completed on an individual basis using a Microsoft Form. The same form will be used for all types of attendees, Students, Advisors, Flyers of Record, Mentors, Volunteers, Spectators, Sponsors, Vendors, and Press alike. There will be some questions that are specific to your category (i.e., student). 

Remember that ALL attendees must obtain a Tripoli membership for insurance purposes. The Liability Waiver is now apart of the form, so once you digitally sign and accept the terms in the form your waiver will be complete. 

I have linked a tutorial to explain, as well as a document that lays out the information that we will be collecting, and the link to the form itself. You will have until April 28th to complete pre-registration, but remember that the earlier your entire team completes Pre-Registration the better time-slot you will get! This information is critical for many aspects of our operation, the earlier we get it the better, so please submit as soon as possible. 

Pre-Registration Instructions 2025
Pre-Registration Tutorial
Pre-Registration Form

Thank you for your time,
Sierra Stockwell
Registration Coordinator
Uprange Operations Manager
[email protected]

​ESRA is proud to announce the selection of the 2025 ESRA IREC Mission Patch! This amazing patch was selected out of a pool of over a dozen design submissions. Congrats to Emre Kilic
with the TOBB ETU Rocketry team! A $250 prize will be sent to Emre for such amazing work!

ESRA is pleased to announce the selection of Spaceport Midland, Texas, for the 2025 IREC.

Congratulations to all of the selected teams.  ESRA and Spaceport America look forward to working with you over the next 7 months! NEW MEXICO BOUND!!!!
https://www.soundingrocket.org/2024-sa-cup.html 

Out of 183 submitted applications, 154 teams have been selected to compete in the 2024 Spaceport America Cup.

HeroX.com, as well as soundingrocket.org website and our social media sites will all celebrate this announcement.

Please share this good news on your social media sites!

For the teams who were not accepted, application are declined for one or more of the following reasons:

• Poor overall quality of the application, lacking detail, incorrect or missing data
• Team lacked sufficient experience to safely design, build and launch a rocket in that specific category
• Lacking a Tripoli L3 certified Flyer of Record
• Team did not follow rules and regulations or standards set forth in the DTEG

It is highly recommended that you seek other opportunities to compete and/or launch in your region. The number of international rocketry competitions has "skyrocketed" over the last few years.  Latin America, Australia, Canada, Europe, Turkey, Algeria and Mexico, are all fabulous opportunities to gain critical experience and expertise to enhance your application for the 2024 Spaceport America Cup.  In the US, teams should look to compete in the Argonia Cup, NASA Student Launch or any of the great events at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) site in southern California.
For those teams who will be competing this year, ESRA is working hard to make this not only the largest, but the best Cup event ever held.  Over the next few weeks, there will be many updates and requests to student team leaders.  Please respond to these as quickly as possible to ensure your team is 100% prepared.

For international teams seeking a formal acceptance letters, please send a request to [email protected]

June is only a short 7 months away.  Get busy with your designing, building and testing!

-The ESRA Team

The Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA) and Spaceport America are happy to announce the official dates for the 2024 Spaceport America Cup.  This will be the 6th Cup launch event at  Spaceport America in beautiful southern New Mexico.

The dates are     Monday, June 17, 2024 to Saturday, June 22nd, 2024

Each year, over 150 university teams from across the USA and around the world compete at Spaceport America’s amazing Vertical Launch Area for the coveted title of Overall Winner. Competing teams design, build, test and launch their rocket with a payload size of 8.8 pounds to target altitudes of either 10,000 or 30,000 feet. Rockets are typically 4 to 8 inches in diameter and 8 to 20 feet long. Multistage rockets and all chemical propulsion types (solid, liquid, and hybrid) are allowed. For information about competing in the Spaceport America Cup, please visit http://www.soundingrocket.org/

Congratulations to all of the selected teams.  ESRA and Spaceport America look forward to working with you over the next 8 months! NEW MEXICO BOUND!!!!

https://www.soundingrocket.org/2023-sa-cup.html

Out of 175 submitted applications, 158 teams have been selected to compete in the 2023 Spaceport America Cup.

HeroX, as well as soundingrocket.org website and our social media sites will all celebrate this announcement.

Based on feedback from student teams, ESRA will provide an email with details as to why a team's application was declined. This information will be emailed directly to the contacts listed in the application submission.  

Typically, application are declined for one or more of the following reasons:

- Poor overall quality of the application, lacking detail, incorrect or missing data
- Team lacked sufficient experience to safely design, build and launch a rocket in that specific category
- Team did not follow rules and regulations or standards set forth in the DTEG

For teams who were declined, it is highly recommended that you seek other opportunities to compete and/or launch in your region.  The number of international rocketry competitions has "skyrocketed" over the last 3 years.  Latin America, Australia, Canada, Europe, Turkey, Mexico etc. are all fabulous opportunities to gain critical experience and expertise to enhance your application for the 2024 Spaceport America Cup.  In the US, teams should look to compete in the Argonia Cup or any of the great events at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) site in southern California.

For those teams who will be competing this year, ESRA is working hard to make this not only the largest, but the best Cup event ever held.  Over the next few weeks, there will be many updates and requests to student team leaders.  Please respond to these as quickly as possible to ensure your team is 100% prepared.

For international teams seeking a formal acceptance letters, please send a request to [email protected]

June is only a short 8 months away.  Get busy with your designing, building and testing!

-The ESRA Team