EuRoC returns to Constância in October
The European rocket launch competition organised by the Portuguese Space Agency is scheduled to take place in October.
Applications for this year's edition have already opened.
For its sixth edition, the European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC) is once again taking place entirely in the municipality of Constância. The European rocket launch competition for university students, organised by the Portuguese Space Agency, will take place between October 9th and 15th.
As with the first time in 2023, the paddock – the area where the competing teams set up their projects – will once again be located at the Constância Sports Pavilion. The launch site will remain at the Santa Margarida Military Camp, in the same municipality.
The application period for the 2025 edition of EuRoC starts this Monday, February 24th and ends on May 13th. For Ricardo Conde, President of the Portuguese Space Agency, over the last few years, the competition has brought together “conditions and knowledge that have allowed sustained growth and several consecutive successes”. This is evidenced by the figures for the 2024 edition, which saw more than 600 participants: of the 19 competing teams, 17 launched their rocket, making it the most successful edition ever.
“This year, we’re aiming to increase the success rate or at least match it,” he states. “The success of this competition is also owed to the availability, hospitality and cooperation of the Portuguese Army, an institutional partner since the beginning of EuRoC, and the Municipality of Constância, which joined the Agency in 2023,” adds Ricardo Conde.
Marta Gonçalves, Education Programme Manager at the Portuguese Space Agency and one of EuRoC’s Project Managers, is expecting “an increase in the number of applications, driven by the emergence of more rocketry teams across Europe”. “We’re also hoping that this year the national representation in the competition will be maintained with at least two Portuguese teams, as was the case in 2024, or that it may actually be strengthened,” she points out.
The Constância Sports Pavilion will once again be the meeting point for the competing teams from October 9th onwards and will also be the venue for the awards ceremony, scheduled for the last day of the competition. The Santa Margarida Military Camp will host the rocket launches between October 11th and 14th.
