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ESRA News & Updates

2022 Spaceport America Cup Application Deadline is October 15!

10/14/2021

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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!
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2021 Virtual Spaceport America Cup Winners!

6/20/2021

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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!
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2021 Virtual Spaceport America Cup Tickets are Live!

4/19/2021

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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! 
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Official Spaceport America Cup 2021 Participants

10/28/2020

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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!
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2021 Spaceport America Cup and Tripoli Rocketry Association

10/13/2020

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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:

  1. 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.


  2. 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:
  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.​
esra_tripoli_spaceport_america_mou_announcement_to_student_participants.pdf
File Size: 205 kb
File Type: pdf
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Spaceport America Cup 2021 Registration Now Open!

10/2/2020

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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!
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Ad Astra Dr. Squires!

6/22/2020

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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. ​
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2020 Spaceport America Cup CANCELLED

3/24/2020

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Spaceport America and the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA) have made the difficult decision to cancel the fourth annual Spaceport America Cup that was scheduled for June 16 – 20, 2020 at Spaceport America. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision was made based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for canceling large events in order to keep the students, spectators and sponsors safe and healthy. The event was set to engage over 1,700 college students from 17 countries on a week- long rocket design and launch competition.

We are so very proud of all of the hard work and progress all of our teams have made up to this point and hope to see all of you next year. 
Refunds will be made available available to teams who request them HOWEVER the recommended option is to request to credit this year’s paid fees to cover next year’s fees. This will secure your team’s invitation to compete in the Spaceport America Cup for next year. Any teams who request a refund will not have a reserved spot to compete in the Cup, but are still encouraged to apply again next year. All teams are asked to complete the HeroX form to indicate how they would like to proceed.
We urge all of you to follow your local guidelines to stay safe during this pandemic, and we look forward to launching with you again after the crisis has been resolved. 
If you have any further questions, feel free to comment on this post, email at media@esrarocket.org, or send a direct message on any of our social media’s 
sa_2020_cup_cancelled_release_v8_2020-03-24a_final.pdf
File Size: 118 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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Spaceport America and ESRA Joint Statement Regarding Spaceport America Cup 2020 and COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

3/12/2020

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Many teams have been asking about Spaceport America Cup 2020 and the effects of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.  We are aware that many teams across the world are impacted by school closures, travel restrictions, and other precautions to limit the spread of this virus.  Spaceport America and the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA) continue to monitor events with respect to the outbreak. 

At this time, we are not cancelling the Spaceport America Cup competition; however, we are meeting weekly to discuss and take appropriate actions as global events unfold.  Please see the linked press release and we will post updates if the competition is affected.

esra_sa_joint_coronavirus_statement.pdf
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Spaceport America Cup 2020 Participants Announced!

10/28/2019

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Congratulations to the 150 teams chosen to compete in the 2020 Spaceport America Cup!

For the complete list of teams and team IDs, please see the PDF file on the Spaceport America Cup 2020 event page.

Below is the breakdown of team locations and competition categories.
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