SEDS Rocketry Club Invited to Spaceport America Cup

ASU’s Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Rocketry Division (SEDS-Rocketry) club enjoyed their first-ever trip to the Spaceport America Cup in New Mexico this past June.

“Spaceport America Cup is the largest intercollegiate rocketry competition in the world,” explained Michael Bravo, club president. “This year, 155 teams were accepted into the competition.”

The club’s unwavering commitment is to provide real-world experience in rocket-building to students who either study or are interested in the field, fostering a culture of continuous learning and growth.

“It's one thing to sit in a classroom all day and solve math problems. But it's another thing to actually get to build and launch something,” said Bravo. “We try to help students get ready for an actual job or internship in industry.”

Though the team did not place at the Spaceport competition, the students demonstrated remarkable resilience and learned much from the rocket-building and competition experience.

“The entire rocket was made by us in-house,” said Bravo. “We went through quite a few iterations while building this rocket, since none of us had done anything of this scale before.”

A total of three test rockets were built by the team before the final model that was taken to the competition.

“We did not place in our category, but we did, however, win the sportsmanship award, and with that, a letter of recommendation from Chris Lopez, the head of Spaceport America.”

This sportsmanship award was not easily won for the club, and it came at great sacrifice.

“We ended up giving up our launch opportunity to one of the international teams, since there weren't enough fails to launch that day,” explained Bravo. “It was definitely a tough decision to make, but it was ultimately a very fulfilling experience.”

From this competition, the club was able to make important connections with those in the space industry.

“Blue Origin is a big sponsor of this event, and they actually come to ASU every year and have clubs present to them for potential funding,” explained Bravo. “We did this last fall, so we're hoping to do it again next fall. But now we have the experience of going to Spaceport.”

Blue Origin is part of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF), of which ASU is also an executive member due to the efforts of the ASU/NewSpace Initiative team.

Ultimately, due to the connections made and the in-field experience gained, the competition was highly beneficial for the SEDS Rocketry club.

“We got a lot more depth in our knowledge of building rockets, while also reaching out and helping students start breaking into the industry,” said Bravo. “It really helped us showcase everything that we've learned at ASU and put it on display.”