Welcome to the site of the Student Aerospace Challenge

^{Registration period for the 19th exercise is now over}

For this new exercise, only two vehicles are proposed: a high-speed, long-range suborbital vehicle and an orbital vehicle servicing low-Earth orbit. As every year, the work packages have been reviewed.

The website has a "My Challenge" tab, which should make it easier for participants to find useful information during the exercise. An "FAQ" tab will soon be available.

Here are the key dates for 19^th exercise:

• From 4^th October to 6^th November 2024: application period
• 18^th November 2024: deadline for sending the Work Package sheet
• 18^th December 2024: deadline for sending first progress report
• 20^th January 2025: deadline for validation by Experts
• 28^th February 2025: deadline for sending second progress report
• 17^th March 2025: deadline for answer from Experts
• 27^th March 2025 : webinar presenting the "Aerospace Challenge Day"
• 4^th April 2025: deadline for sending a 10-line summary explaining the work done
• 4^th May 2025: deadline for sending final report, poster and bilingual work summary
• 5^th June 2025: « The Aerospace Challenge Day », a special event, gathering students and Partners, ending the exercise

The Challenge, proposed by Astronaute Club Européen (ACE) and its industrial and institutional partners (ArianeGroup, Dassault Aviation, the European Space Agency and Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace), allows students to participate to the study of a manned suborbital vehicle which is a reusable vehicle designed either for high speed, long-range suborbital flights or a space manned vehicle servicing Low Earth Orbits.

If you are an undergraduate or a graduate student from a European college or university, you are given an opportunity to create a team with fellow students and to work on a meaningful project covering many topics (technical, medical or legal aspects, etc...). You can put your knowledge into practice within the framework of a project (linked to your core activity or in complement) concerning an evolving field.

Go through this web site, speak about it around you, form your team and send your application to the Selection Committee to possibly, as hundreds of engaged students during former years, actively take part in this adventure while strengthening your ability to join the professional world.

Good reading and see you soon!

  Key dates

  WPs - Overview

2023-2024 booklet  

Challenge News

02/07/2024

Results for the eighteenth exercise

Among the 28 registered teams for the eighteenth exercise of the Student Aerospace Challenge, 16 teams returned their report. Evaluation by the Steering Committee of the Challenge, composed of partners and experts leads to the following prize list:

• SARM (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid - Madrid, Spain) received ESA Grand Prix for its Phase-0 design of an autonomous and reusable space module,
• TUKERS (Technical University of Kosice - Kosice, Slovakia) was awarded by the ArianeGroup Prize for its work on active heatshield cooling solutions,
• OrbitOut (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - Lausanne, Switzerland) received Dassault Aviation Prize for its study related to CIRCE, a modular training approach to navigate through space,
• PoliTOrbital - Medical Aspects (Politecnico di Torino - Turin, Italy) was awarded by the Communication Prize, sponsored by ACE, for the emphasizing of work related to AI-aided wearable device for health monitoring during a low orbital flight.

In addition, during the Suborbital Day, UPogee (University of Patras - Patras, Greece) received the Suborbital Day’s Special Prize, sponsored by Air and Space Museum, for the best presentation related to its work on the preliminary design approach of a manned LEO spaceplane.

13/06/2023

Results for the seventeenth exercise

Among the 19 registered teams for the seventeenth exercise of the Student Aerospace Challenge, 14 teams returned their report. Evaluation by the Steering Committee of the Challenge, composed of partners and experts leads to the following prize list:

• SALTO (Politecnico di Torino - Turin, Italy) received ESA Grand Prix for its study related to radiation protection,
• InTOstellar (Politecnico di Torino - Turin, Italy) was awarded by the ArianeGroup Prize for its work to design reusable propulsion system for green suborbital flights,
• SpaceTOurists (Politecnico di Torino - Turin, Italy) received Dassault Aviation Prize for its study related to sizing and aerodynamics analysis of a wing-body suborbital vehicle,
• Space Doctors (Medical University & Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy - Varnia, Bulgaria) was awarded by the Communication Prize, sponsored by ACE, for the emphasizing of work related to a small medical robot.

In addition, during the Suborbital Day, MISS (Université Libre de Bruxelles - Brussels, Belgium) received the Suborbital Day’s Special Prize, sponsored by Air and Space Museum, for the best presentation related to its work on the design of a suborbital health monitoring platform.