EPFL Rocket Team

Fly high and be precise

EPFL Rocket team

The project brings together students from EPFL and three other schools under the name EPFL Rocket Team. The project’s goal is to design and launch a rocket carrying a scientific experiment to an altitude of 3048 m at an international competition. Nearly 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, subject to the same time, financial and technical constraints that we will encounter in our future careers.

Founded in October 2016, the EPFL Rocket Team brings together motivated and passionate aerospace enthusiasts. This interdisciplinary student initiative was born from the desire of many students from different engineering faculties to put into practice their accumulated knowledge.

The EPFL Rocket Team will be participating at 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 composed of students from EPFL and ETHZ attended the competition and finished 8th in its category with the project RORO.
In 2018, the EPFL Rocket Team participated at the competition with the project Matterhorn and won the “Jim Furfaro Award for technical excellence”.
And lastly, in 2019, with the project Eiger, the team finished 8th of its category.

Sadly, the competition in June 2020 has been cancelled due to the pandemic.

The EPFL Rocket Team in numbers:

  • 8 sections from 5 faculties at EPFL
  • More than 80 active student members
  • About 50% undergraduate students
  • More than 30 rocket launches
  • 3 participations at the SA Cup
  • 190’000 CHF yearly budget

The Spaceport America Cup is the largest student rocket competition in the world. The objective is to propel 4 kg of payload to an altitude of several kilometers. As a result, teams design and build their own rocket every year to compete during launches at the Virgin Galactic Spaceport in the New Mexico desert, USA.

The team is always recruiting to be able to reach new summits!
To be aware of the latest news and semester projects, please check our website and don’t hesitate to contact us: https://epflrocketteam.ch/join-us/.

Website: https://epflrocketteam.ch/

Aftermovie competition 2017 GOPRO :

Aftermovie competition 2018 :

Contact

 [email protected]

EPFL Coordinator : Nicola Cardines (EPFL Space Center – E-space)

Academic Responsible : Jean-Paul Kneib (E-space)