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Orbex backs UK student rocket championships

The Student Engineer

Scottish spaceflight company Orbex has announced that it will sponsor the 2021 UKSEDS National Rocketry Championship.

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UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (UKSEDS) is the UK’s national student space society and has been running events and promoting space for over 30 years. Its national Rocketry Championship will see teams designing, building and launching a mid-power rocket with the primary goal of reaching the greatest apogee possible. Teams are scored on flight performance and payload, as well as the supporting documentation around each project.

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Orbex’s sponsorship will provide funding to all teams entering the competition, with full sponsorship to any team that consists of at least 50 per cent women or non-binary members. The goal of the grant is to encourage wider participation in the core technology aspects of launch vehicle design and development.

“We’re very excited to be partnering with Orbex on the National Rocketry Championship 2020-2021; their support will allow us to enhance participation, both improving accessibility and providing the best possible experience for the students,” said Zaria Serfontein, UKSEDS Events and Competitions team lead.

“Additionally, in line with core values of both UKSEDS and Orbex, the Gender Diversity Grant will help to promote gender diversity within all our UKSEDS competitions, taking steps towards addressing the gender imbalance that exists within the space sector.”

Twenty-eight teams have entered the competition with finals expected to be held in July 2021. As part of the prize for the competition, Orbex will also invite the winning teams to join a test firing of the company’s main stage rocket engine.

"We really value hands-on experience, and there's no better way to gain that in rocketry than by building and launching your own rockets," said Chris Larmour, CEO of Orbex.

"Partnering with UKSEDS allows us to get involved with all of the student groups working on this technology and hopefully build useful connections for future rocket engineers working on our orbital launch vehicles, which are intended to launch from Sutherland in Scotland."