Spaceport America Cup draws future industry leaders to Las Cruces
LAS CRUCES – More than 1,100 participants in the inaugural Spaceport America Cup packed the Las Cruces Convention Center on Tuesday.
More than 90 teams of student engineers filled the main ballroom and hallways as they showed off the result of a year’s work and compared notes on their creations ahead of planned launches at Spaceport America from Thursday through Saturday. The International Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Compeition moved to Spaceport America this year after having been held in southern Utah for the past six years.
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The event, sponsored by The Experimental Sounding Rocket Association and Spaceport America, draws students from universities across the United States as well as abroad. Representatives of all the continents, with the exception of Antarctica, registered for the event, although teams from Australia had yet to arrive as of Tuesday morning. The turnout was easily double that in previous years, organizers said.
The competition pits students from top engineering programs across the globe against each other. Students seek to launch their rockets to a pre-determined altitude. Points are earned for coming closest to the target altitude, as well as for the students' presentations and their safety plans and procedures.
“I’ve been looking at the numbers for months,” said Dustin Koehler, vice president of the Experimental Rocket Sounding Association. “Actually getting up on stage and seeing the numbers come through, seeing a room full of 40 judges, it’s a bit overwhelming. It’s an amazing thing. I can’t believe we finally made it to this point.”
Max Pittman, a 21-year-old St. Louis University student, was marking his second year at the event. Pittman’s first IIREC was as part of a team of six. This year, that has grown to a 40-member team with a roughly $20,000 budget. Interest in the competition is up this year, in no small part due to its relocation to southern New Mexico and Spaceport America, he said.
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Martin Avcoin, a 22-year-old, drove straight through from Calgary to participate with his teammates from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. The adjustment to the desert southwest was significant.
“Hot,” he said. “But beautiful. I’ve never been in the desert and been in the middle of nowhere.”
The contest to hit pre-determined altitudes and match skills with engineering and aerospace peers from around the globe is not the only draw. For many, it’s a prime opportunity to network with leading aerospace firms who attend to recruit the next generation of engineers and industry leaders.
Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Space X, Jacobs and other companies, 22 in all, were taking advantage of having the cream of the crop in one place.
“I’m so thrilled to see all the students excited about engineering and rockets and space,” said Jane Kinney, assistant director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation in Washington, D.C. “To be able to go to Spaceport America and actually launch the projects they’ve been working on is wonderful. It’s great for members of industry. It gives students hands-on before they get out in the world.”
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Johnathan Firth, Virgin Galactic executive vice president for spaceport development, said it was a good test run for how Spaceport America will handle the eventual crowds expected to turn out when Virgin begins space tourism flights. It is also an opportunity to recruit future employees, he said.
“It’s a great thing for us to see the ideas they are working on while still in college,” Firth said. “They are very employable. It’s an opportunity for them to come check us out and the other aerospace companies here as well. And it’s an opportunity for us to talk to them as well. We all have vacancies. Some of these people are totally made for those roles.”
Dan Hicks, Spaceport America CEO, said this was the event he had most looked forward to when he assumed leadership almost nine months ago.
“I can’t imagine a better scenario,” Hicks said. “We have the best and brightest minds in the aerospace universe around the nation and world coming to one location to do a competition like this. And then to have our sponsors, our recruiters … to be at the same location, it’s like a big aerospace workforce date week.”
Many of the students are close to graduation and entering the workforce, Hicks said. And the companies are “here to get their future workforce and to groom them while they are still in college.”
Wednesday, participants will set up their rockets and test components at Spaceport America with an eye toward launching their creations to pre-determined altitudes.
The scheduled launch days, Thursday through Saturday at Spaceport America, are open to the public. This event is recommended for children ages 6 and older due to the outdoor conditions and spectators are urged to bring lawn chairs, sunscreen, water and a hat. No spectator coolers, alcohol, drugs, weapons or non-service animals are allowed. Food and beverage will be available for sale. Tickets, $10 for a single day or $20 for three days, are available online at eventizilla.net or the Spaceport America Cup website.
Jason Gibbs may be reached at 575-541-5451, jgibbs@lcsun-news.com or @fjgwriter on Twitter.
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