European university students compete again in the skies of Portugal

• More than 500 students are expected in rocket launch competition, EuRoC – European Rocketry Challenge, carried out by the Portuguese Space Agency, which takes place between the 11^th and 18^th of October
• This year's edition had the highest number of applications ever, with more than 40 candidate teams from 11 countries

LISBON, Portugal, Sept. 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Portuguese Space Agency carries out, for the third consecutive year, the EuRoC – European Rocketry Challenge, the rocket launch competition aimed by university students from several European countries, which this year has 20 teams from 11 countries.

This year, there are new countries in the EuRoC, with the entry of two teams from Spain and two from Hungary. In addition, there is also cooperation between countries, since Portuguese students ate part of foreign teams and vice versa. The Italian Skyward Experimental Rocketry is one such example, with Portuguese elements in its team. On the other hand, the Portuguese RED has Brazilian members.

There will be several debuts, such as the Portuguese Fénix Rocket Team, which brings together students from Universidade de Coimbra and Universidade da Beira Interior, and 10 other teams: BME Aerospace – BMEAERO (Hungary); BME Suborbitals – BMESUB (Hungary); Faraday Rocketry UPV (Spain); Hybrid Engine Development – HyEnD (German); LeoFly – LF (France); Poznan University of Technology (Poland); PUT Rocketlab (Poland); Student Team for Aerospace and Rocketry – STAR (Spain).

There will be some returns, such as the Austrian team Aerospace Team Graz, which currently holds the speed record achieved by rocket in the competition; ARIS – Akademische Raumfahrtinitiative Schweiz (Switzerland), Aristotle Space & Aeronautics Team – ASAT (Greece); Bath Rocket Team – BRT (United Kingdom); CranSEDS (United Kingdom); Endeavour (United Kingdom); Imperial College London Rocketry – ICLR (United Kingdom); PoliWRocket (Poland); Rocket Experiment Division – RED (Portugal); Skyward Experimental Rocketry – Skyward ER (Italy); a TUST – TU Wien Space Team (Austria) and EPFL Rocket Team – ERT (Switzerland), the winner in 2021.

"The growth of competition has been visible", comments Marta Gonçalves, manager of educational projects at the Portuguese Agency. "EuRoC is aligned with the strategic objectives of the Portuguese Space Agency and this is a competition that promotes innovation and motivates students to learn to work as a team, solving real-world problems under the same pressure they will face in their future careers", adds.

More information about the contest here.

About EuRoC – European Rocketry Challenge:
EuRoC – European Rocketry Challenge is the first university rocket launch competition in Europe, promoted by the Portuguese Space Agency. Since 2020, EuRoC seeks to encourage university students to design, build and launch their own rockets, promoting the development of student's technological skills in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, among others.
For more information, visit the EuRoc website here.