- The project
- The project brings together students from EPFL and three other schools under the name EPFL Rocket Team (ERT). The aim of the project is to design and launch an annual rocket carrying scientific experience at an altitude of several kilometres to an international competition. Almost all parts of the rocket are designed by the students. In addition to refining our engineering knowledge and skills, the Spaceport America Cup allows us to build a project over a long period of time, with the same time, financial and technical constraints we will encounter in our future engineering careers.
Founded in October 2016, the EPFL Rocket Team brings together aerospace enthusiasts. This interdisciplinary student initiative was born from the desire of many students from different faculties to put their accumulated knowledge into practice.
The Spaceport America Cup is the largest student rocket design and launch competition in the world. The objective is to propel 4 kg of payload to an altitude of several kilometres. Every year, teams design and build their own rockets to participate in launches at the Virgin Galactic Spaceport in June in the desert of New Mexico, USA.
The EPFL Rocket Team will participate in the Spaceport America Cup for the fourth time in June 2021.
In 2017, for the first time in the history of the Spaceport America Cup, a European team made up of students from EPFL and ETHZ took part in the competition and finished 8th in its class with the RORO project.
In 2018, the EPFL Rocket Team took part in the competition with the Matterhorn Project and won the “Jim Furfaro Award for technical excellence”.
And finally, in 2019, with the Eiger project, the team finished 8th in its category.
Unfortunately, the June 2020 edition has been cancelled due to the pandemic, but the team will still launch the Bella Lui rocket with its new hybrid engine (liquid oxidizer, solid oxidizer) developed by the team during the year.
The EPFL Rocket Team in numbers :
-8 sections of 5 EPFL faculties
– More than 80 active student members
– Around 50% of undergraduate students
– More than 30 rocket launches
– 3 participations in the SA Cup
– CHF 190’000 annual budget - Link with the SKIL
- The SKIL is one of the main prototyping spaces of the EPFL, it allows us, thanks to a large panel of tools, to prototype and give life to our ideas quickly. In addition, the SKIL team is passionate and competent, as well as always available to help us, from conception to realization.
SKIL also provides us with all the tools needed to manufacture small rockets that enable us to pass certification levels for launching rockets in Switzerland, such as those of the IO Project. (https://epflrocketteam.ch/fr/projets/io-2020/). - Recruitment and contact
- The Rocket Team is always recruiting! If you want to join the adventure, find a semester project within the team or just find out more, don’t hesitate to visit our website (https://epflrocketteam.ch/fr/rejoignez-nous/) or contact us at [email protected].
