View of the spaceport’s eastern approach along Spaceport America Boulevard. Courtesy/Spaceport America
Spaceport America News:
The latest edition of the world’s largest intercollegiate rocketry competition is in the books.
Concluding with the closing ceremony Saturday, June 22, 2024, at the Pan America Center on the campus of New Mexico State University, the 2024 Spaceport America Cup again featured the technical prowess of thousands of the world’s most intellectually gifted college students centered around the field of intercollegiate rocketry.
Of the 152 teams who signed up to take part in the event, a record 122 of them made the trek to southern New Mexico for the week-long competition featuring some of the brightest minds and most dedicated college and university students from around the globe. A strong partnership between Spaceport America and the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA) made the event, which has been held at the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport since 2017, possible.
“It never ceases to amaze me how much energy these students bring to the event,” ESRA President Steve Taylor said. “The global community is one of the things we bring together for this event and I’m proud of what we have built over the years.”
Taking home the coveted Genesis Cup Trophy as the overall winner of the event was Team 121, the University of Maryland. That institution joins the likes of Brigham Young University (2023), The University of Sydney (2022), the University of Minnesota (2021), the University of Washington (2019), McGill University (2018) and the University of Michigan (2017) as overall winners of the Cup.
“The continued growth of the Spaceport America Cup is a testament to the passion of thousands of students from around the world as well as the dedication by the staffs of ESRA and Spaceport America to put on a world-class event,” Spaceport America Executive Director Scott McLaughlin said. “Being able to directly impact the future members of the space and aerospace workforce is something we are proud of, and we can’t wait to see the growth opportunities which await our organizations in 2024.”
For the region, the Spaceport America Cup represents a substantial economic driver thanks to the thousands of students and spectators who stay in cities and towns around both Doña Ana and Sierra counties. Many first-time visitors received the opportunity to learn about the state of New Mexico, its robust history in the space and aerospace realms, and the role The Land of Enchantment continues to play in commercial aerospace.
Once again, all four major regional universities – New Mexico State University, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, the University of New Mexico and the University of Texas at El Paso – engaged in the competition. The city of Albuquerque is headed home with the award, as the University of New Mexico laid claim to the Chile Cup. Established in 2019, the Chile Cup is an award given to the team from the four above who placed the highest in the overall competition.
Dozens of staff members from Spaceport America as well as a group of ESRA volunteers which numbers at over 150 served as event organizers, host and mentors not just during the week of the Cup but through the months leading up to the event, too.
Over two dozen organizations from around the world pledged their support to the 2024 Spaceport America Cup, too. Foremost among them was lead supporter Onshape, a PTC company, and Gold-level supporters Blue Origin, Honeywell and Los Alamos National Labs.
Another major contributor for the event was New Mexico State University’s Dr. Paulo Oemig who serves as the director of New Mexico Space Grant Consortium. NMSGC is a member of the congressionally funded National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program that has been administered by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) since 1989.
A complete list of overall and category winners from the 2024 Spaceport America Cup can be located below. Additionally, this information as well as winners from past years can be located on ESRA’s website. A full video archive of the 2024 Spaceport America Cup including the opening ceremony, team podium sessions, full launch day streams and the closing ceremony can be found on ESRA’s YouTube channel
2024 Spaceport America Cup Winner
Team 121 | University of Maryland
Runner-Up | Team 49 | Istanbul Technical University
2024 Chile Cup Winner
Team 127 | University of New Mexico
ESRA Technical Awards
Jim Furfano Award for Technical Excellence
Winner | Team 25 | Duke University
Runner-Up | Team 144 | Utah State University
Dr. Gil Moore Award for Innovation
Winner | Team 137 | University of Texas at San Antonio
Runner-Up | Team 125 | University of Minnesota
Charles Hoult Award for Modeling & Simulation
Winner | Team 144 | Utah State University
Runner-Up | Team 121 | University of Maryland
James Barrowman Award for Flight Dynamics
Winner | Team 119 | University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Runner-Up | Team 150 | Wichita State University
ESRA Team Conduct Awards
Team Sportsmanship Award
Winner | Team 4 | Arizona State University
Runner-Up | Team 114 | University of Canterbury
Nancy Squires Team Spirit Award
Winner | Team 138 | University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley
Runner-Up | Team 152 | Wroclaw University of Science and Technology
Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition Category Place Awards
(COTS = Commercial Off the Shelf | SRAD = Student Researched and Developed)
10K COTS
First Place | Team 49 | Istanbul University
Second Place | Team 11 | Brigham Young University
30K COTS
First Place | Team 114 | University of Canterbury
Second Place | Team 97 | University of Melbourne
10K SRAD Solid Motor
First Place | Team 121 | University of Maryland
Second Place | Team 133 | University of Sao Paulo
30K SRAD Solid Motor
First Place | Team 124 | University of Minnesota
Second Place | Team 74 | Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute
10K SRAD Hybrid/Liquid
First Place | Team 111 | University of Calgary
Second Place | Team 152 | Wroclaw University of Science & Technology
30K SRAD Hybrid/Liquid
First Place | Team 75 | Rice University
Second Place | Team 62 | National Autonomous University of Mexico
Payload Challenge, Sponsored by Space Dynamics Laboratory
First Place ($1,000)
Team 11 | Brigham Young University
Second Place ($750)
Team 143 | University of Wisconsin
Third Place ($500)
Team 97 | University of Melbourne
Honorable Mentions
Team 89 | Technical University Munich | Most Professionally Integrated Payload
Team 144 | Utah State University | Most Improved Year Over Year
Team 151 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | Best Use of Computer Vision
Media Awards
Team Video Challenge
Winner | Team 11 | BYU
Live Rocket Video Challenge | Best Live Onboard Video
Winner | Team 90 | Texas A&M
Live Rocket Video Challenge | Best Live Telemetry Visualization
Winner | Team 151 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute
About Spaceport America:
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.