Spaceport America and the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA) have announced that the 2022 Spaceport America Cup will return, in-person, June 21-25 in Southern New Mexico, with more than 140 teams participating from over 20 countries across the globe.
The 2022 Spaceport America Cup is brought to you by Sierra Space as the Diamond Level supporter of the competition. Sierra Space is participating for the first time and will have representatives at the opening day ceremony on June 21 at the Las Cruces Convention Center as well as at the launch days held at Spaceport America June 22-25.
The Spaceport America Cup is the world’s largest intercollegiate rocketry engineering contest (IREC) and has been held in New Mexico since 2017. Drawn by the opportunity to collaborate and compete at a world-class spaceport facility, student teams represent the best and brightest from more than 100 institutions located across the world.
The annual Spaceport America Cup was canceled in 2020 due to the global pandemic; however the event was held virtually in 2021 to accommodate the restrictions teams faced across the globe. This year, the 2022 Spaceport America Cup marks the return of an in-person competition.
More than 2,000 participants are expected to attend the event in Southern New Mexico in June, with a full schedule that includes presentations and displays at the Las Cruces Convention Center on June 21, followed by three and a half days of launching at Spaceport America’s vertical launch area, with the closing ceremony in the evening of June 25 at the Las Cruces Convention Center.
“We are honored to support the Spaceport America Cup,” said Dr. Janet Kavandi, President of Sierra Space and former NASA astronaut. “Our company’s mission is to build a platform in space to benefit life on Earth, and we are so inspired by this year’s participants. We know they will play a vital role in getting us there.”
“The Spaceport America Cup has become an exciting venue for student interaction and participating company employee recruiting,” said Scott McLaughlin, Executive Director of Spaceport America. “ESRA and Spaceport America are especially thankful and proud to partner with Sierra Space to support this competition, and Sierra Space conveys exactly the entrepreneurial attitude this event embodies.”
“Spaceport America Cup has grown to become a key engineering competition driving significant practical engineering learning, experience, and teamwork with teams from across the globe,” said Cliff Olmsted, ESRA President and Chairperson. “We are extremely proud that Sierra Space is supporting the competition for 2022. We greatly value their crucial support for this event.”
There are no costs for admissions for visitors to attend the opening day at the Las Cruces Convention Center from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Rather, this is a great opportunity to allow public school students and rocketry enthusiasts to see and meet the collegiate teams. Note that all following events at Spaceport America are closed to the general public.
Spaceport America and ESRA would also like to thank Gold Level sponsors including Blue Origin, Kansas City National Security Campus managed by Honeywell, Virgin Galactic, Mountain View Hospital, and Fiore Industries Inc.
2022 Spaceport America Cup brought to you by Sierra Space is also supported by Solidworks, AIAA, and Fibreglast.
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Spaceport America (https://www.spaceportamerica.com) is the first purpose-built commercial spaceport in the world. The FAA-licensed launch complex, situated on 18,000 acres adjacent to the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, has a rocket friendly environment of 6,000 square miles of restricted airspace, low population density, a 12,000-foot by 200-foot runway, vertical launch complexes, and about 340 days of sunshine and low humidity.
The Spaceport America Cup (https://spaceportamericacup.com/) is the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket engineering competition.
