EuRoC: 28 university teams head to Constância in October
Organised by the Portuguese Space Agency, the EuRoC – European Rocketry Challenge reaches a new milestone in 2025: 28 university teams selected, the highest number ever recorded in the competition’s six editions, chosen from a record 56 applications.
The sixth edition of EuRoC once again confirms the growth and consolidation of the competition as the leading meeting point for university aerospace engineering in Europe. The record number of applications — 56 from 19 countries — highlights the event’s increasing relevance as a testing platform. However, it is primarily the technical quality of the proposals that justifies the selection of 28 teams — an unprecedented number in the competition’s history.
Also without precedent is the number of Portuguese teams selected, with three advancing to the final stage — a remarkable achievement that highlights the growing strength of the national academic sector dedicated to rocket engineering. The three Portuguese representatives were chosen from seven national entries, reflecting the increasing dynamism of Portugal’s university ecosystem in the space domain.
“This result shows that there is talent, motivation and technical capability in our universities to compete at the highest European level,” says Marta Gonçalves, Education Programme Manager at the Portuguese Space Agency and EuRoC Programme Manager. “It is also a sign that the groundwork we’ve been doing to promote and highlight this specific area of the space sector among students and universities is bearing fruit.”
The evaluation of the applications confirms the increasing technical maturity and ambition of the teams, with 24 projects featuring SRAD (Student Researched and Developed) engines, including 10 hybrid and 11 liquid engines — the highest number ever. The mission profiles also reflect greater complexity, as 10 teams aim for altitudes of 9,000 metres, presenting the most challenging targets in terms of engineering and systems integration.
The technical evolution we’ve witnessed year after year is remarkable, especially in how teams are taking full ownership of their propulsion system development,” says Pedro Coimbra, Education Project Manager at the Portuguese Space Agency. “It’s this ability to innovate safely that makes EuRoC such a unique proving ground in the European context.”
Among the selected teams are five first-time participants, including the first-ever team from Malta, joining an increasingly international group of competitors. Some of the most prominent names in the competition also return, including EPFL Rocket Team and ARIS (Switzerland), Faraday (Spain), ASAT (Greece), DanStar (Denmark), and DARE (Netherlands), bringing new projects to EuRoC.
In total, 16 countries will be represented, with Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom each fielding three teams, a clear sign of the dynamism and vitality of student rocketry in Europe.
The diversity of countries, technical approaches, and first-time teams demonstrates that EuRoC is attracting the best of Europe’s next generation of aerospace engineers,” says Inês d’Ávila, Programme Manager for Space Transport and Safety at the Portuguese Space Agency.
EuRoC 2025 will take place from October 9 to 15, between the Santa Margarida Military Camp and the paddock set up at the Constância Municipal Sports Pavilion, with rocket launches taking place at the Portuguese Army’s facilities — a EuRoC partner since the second edition.
“The collaboration between civilian entities, including the Constância Municipality, and the military allows EuRoC to be held under conditions of excellence in terms of safety and technical control, maintaining the high standards required for an event of this nature,” adds Inês d’Ávila, who also serves as Safety Officer for the launch operations in Santa Margarida.
