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Spaceport America Cup

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Spaceport America Cup 2020

The world's largest intercollegiate rocket engineering competition.

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Summary

Overview

SPACEPORT AMERICA CUP 2020

Over 1,500 students and faculty will gather in Southern New Mexico for the fourth annual Spaceport America Cup in 2020.  Drawn by the opportunity to collaborate and compete at a world class spaceport facility, you represented the best and brightest from more than 70 institutions located all across the USA and around the world. 

Join us as we host hundreds of the worlds most ambitious collegiate rocketeers  in a one of a kind event. Part academic conference and part design-build-fly style competition, the Spaceport America Cup has something to offer students, faculty, industry representatives, and amateur aerospace aficionados alike.

 

The future beckons. 
​How will you answer the call?

Whether you are an academic, an industry representative, a retired professional, or simply a passionate amateur supportive of young minds who seek new horizons... there are many ways you may become a part of an event impacting the future of aerospace...

As a Sponsor...

You will meet with hundreds of talented STEM students from top ranked schools in a professional setting. You will see both them and their hardware perform in real world conditions. Furthermore, you will be helping make possible an event which helps make the best possible candidates for your company! 

As a Volunteer or Judge...

You will join the highly motivated team which brings order to the mess of small puzzle pieces required to build the worlds biggest collegiate rocket engineering conference and competition. From directing crowds to directing launches, and everything in-between, we need your volunteerism at the Spaceport America Cup! 

As a Student... 

You will demonstrate your hard work on an international stage, in front of hundreds of your peers, professors, and prospective employers. You will engage in design-build-fly style rocket and payload engineering competitions in a professional setting, at world class facilities, where the sky is not the limit!


Guidelines

Guidelines for Spaceport America Cup - Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) are hosted on our website! 

In particular, you'll want to review the following documents:

  • IREC Rules and Requirements Document
  • IREC Design, Test, and Evaluation Guide
  • Integrated Master Schedule

www.soundingrocket.org/sa-cup-documents--forms.html

Timeline
Updates40

Challenge Updates

Looking for some great video clips from our awesome ROCKET TEAMS!!

May 20, 2020, 4:18 p.m. PDT by Andy

The Spaceport America Cup would have been a just few weeks away, and everyone would be frantically putting on the final touches to their rocket projects.  Unfortunately, this pandemic hit us all pretty hard. Everyone is disappointed that we had to cancel.

So we'd like to see what your teams have been up to!  We invite you to send us any short (~30 seconds) video clips with the creative ways you have be working remotely on your rocket projects.  We would like to use them as part of our 2021 Spaceport America Cup new dates announcement.  Make sure to include LOTS of team and school logos and similar!  

Please email your YouTube link to .  If your video is selected, we will contact you and ask for a fileshare link to the best available resolution video file.   Please submit your video links no later than June 3rd.

Reply to this announcement if you have any questions.

 

Stay safe and we look forward to seeing everyone for the BIGGER AND BETTER 2021 Spaceport America Cup!


UPDATED 5/12 -- REMAINING 10 Teams need to submit their Refund Preference Form to reserve your 2021 Spaceport America Cup position

April 22, 2020, 5:42 p.m. PDT by Andy

Still missing responses from 10 teams as of today.  Nearly every team has opted to reserve their spot for 2021 and forward their deposit from 2020 to 2021.  There will be VERY FEW SPOTS available for new teams next year.

 

If you see your team's name on this list, PLEASE RESPOND

 

The 2021 Spaceport America Cup will be nearly completely filled with returning 2020 teams who forwarded their deposit for 2021.  There will be VERY FEW spots available for new teams or for teams who requested a full refund. If your team fails to respond, your spot will be forfeited and you will have to compete for the precious few spots remaining for 2021.

 

The form is available on HeroX where all of the Interim Reports have been located.  

Here is a list of the teams who have not responded:
 

8Clark College
46Sherbooke
47Alberta
50Lancashire
55Baltimore County
76Laval
82Toronto
83Utah Valley
133Denmark
142Northeastern

 


TEAMS - Make sure to respond to the REFUND PREFERENCE FORM soon

April 4, 2020, 11:34 a.m. PDT by Andy

We've received responses from 64 teams as of today, which is far short of 50%.  So far, nearly every team has opted to reserve their spot for 2021 and forward their deposit from 2020 to 2021.  And that is great news!!

 

Note to all remaining teams - The 2021 Spaceport America Cup will likely be filled with a majority of teams who were accepted in 2020 and forwarded their deposit for 2021.  If this trend continues as expected, there will be VERY FEW spots available for new teams or for teams who requested a full refund.

 

The form is available on HeroX where all of the Interim Reports have been located.  


PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - DO NOT cancel your COTS rocket motor orders

March 25, 2020, 8:50 a.m. PDT by Andy

ALL TEAMS PLEASE NOTE - Our approved motor vendors are being severely financially impacted by the cancellation. Please consider what our event would be like if there were no motor vendors available...

<From Steve Shannon, President of Tripoli Rocketry Association>
"If you’ve already ordered your motors and if your dealer has received them, please do not cancel your order and leave your dealer stuck with a financial obligation and no income to pay for it. Our sport is a small market and the dealers are already financially impacted. Instead, please consider paying for the motors.

If you have no place to store them, leave them at the dealer or talk to your local Tripoli Prefect to see if they can help find safe storage."


2020 Spaceport America Cup CANCELLED

March 24, 2020, 12:19 p.m. PDT by ESRA President

To all Teams: Spaceport America and the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA) have made the difficult decision to cancel the fourth annual Spaceport America Cup due to 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 students, spectators and sponsors safe and healthy.  We are extremely proud of all of the hard work and progress all of you 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. 

A new form is now available titled "2020 Spaceport America Cup Cancellation Preference".  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 channels.

Please see the Spaceport America and ESRA  joint press release.


Forum97
Teams1.7K
Resources
FAQ