University of Melbourne students collect at the 2024 Spaceport America Cup
The University of Melbourne's Aerospace and Rocket Engineering Society (ARES) Rocketry Team has placed second at the 2024 Spaceport America Cup (SAC), the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket engineering competition.
Held in New Mexico, USA, the weeklong competition ran in June, and featured over 152 teams from 20 countries, and challenged students to design, build and launch rockets to target altitudes of 10,000 and 30,000 feet. ARES placed second in the 30K Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) category with their rocket, ‘Florence’.
The team’s achievement was a testament to the skill and dedication of the students, bringing home the best performance of an Australian university at this year’s competition.
Florence launch. (Image: Supplied)
This is only the team’s third entry into Spaceport America’s Cup, following the launches of ‘Phobos’ in 2022 and ‘Deimos’ in 2023.
University of Melbourne student and team Leader Neel Pawar was thrilled with the team’s results. “Placing second in the 30K COTS category is a phenomenal achievement for our team. It reflects the hard work, dedication and innovation of every member of ARES,” Pawar said.
University of Melbourne student and team Leader Nikiforos Tsouvakas reflected on the team’s journey. “Preparing for this competition involved countless hours of design, testing and refinement. Overcoming numerous challenges along the way has made this achievement even more meaningful,”.
Fellow student and Chief Engineer Will Borden said of the win: “Achieving such precision in our target altitude is a proud moment for all of us. This journey has shown us what is possible when we combine our passion and perseverance.”
ARES Rocketry team at an integration test for Florence in New Mexico. (Image: Supplied)
The ARES Rocketry team, supported by the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, provides students with hands-on experience in designing, analysing and manufacturing high-powered rockets. These rockets are built by the team for competitions like SAC and will then go on display for promotional events at the University.
Named after Australia’s first female electrical engineer, ‘Florence’ is a 10 foot (3 m) tall, 5.7 inch (14.5 cm) diameter rocket, powered by an Aerotech O5500 motor. The rocket reached an apogee of 29,782 feet (9.08 km), within 0.73 per cent of the target altitude, and achieved a maximum speed of approximately 2200 kilometres per hour.
The rocket features numerous student-developed systems, including air brakes, a CO2 ejection system, a flight computer, and a telemetry network. Its robust design includes a single-diameter airframe and a single-separation, dual-deploy recovery scheme, ensuring reliability and performance.