ESRA hosts annual Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competitions every June near Green River, Utah,

USA. With the inclusion of teams from Canada, Brazil, India, and Turkey in recent years, they are now in

fact international competitions (though we haven’t decided to add that to the name yet…).

The emphasis of the ESRA rocket competitions is student design and construction of as many parts of

the rockets as possible, including propulsion, structures, avionics, recovery, and payloads. We don’t

prohibit commercial components or rockets, but more points are given for student-designed and -built

hardware.

We have two categories at the Competitions: Basic and Advanced. The Basic Category is to launch and

recover a rocket with 10-lb payload closest to 10,000 feet above ground level (AGL). The Advanced

Category may change from year to year but for the past few years it has been to launch and recover a

rocket with 10-lb payload closest to 25,000 feet AGL. Currently teams may enter either or both

categories without any “prerequisites.”

ASME Members are currently participating in the 2015-2016 Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering

Competition as a Senior Design Project. The goal of this project is to launch a 10 lb. payload to 10,000

feet. While the rocket design and manufacturing is already being handled by the senior team, up to 4

more people can join to work on a scientific payload.