EuRoC26: The next generation of the European space sector is already in Constância

The European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC), organised by the Portuguese Space Agency, returned to Constância today, 15 October, bringing together around 700 students from universities in 13 countries. Twenty university teams have arrived in Portugal to launch the rockets they conceived, designed and built over the past year. Launches will take place at the Santa Margarida Military Camp in Constância from 17 to 20 October. Fifteen teams developed their own engines, and seven use liquid propulsion, the technology behind the launchers that put satellites into orbit. The students arrive structured along industry lines. Each team has an engineering division split into systems, structures, propulsion, avionics and payload, alongside project management, communications and safety teams.

As in any company, faces change but teams endure. Four of this year’s teams have competed every year since 2021, passing knowledge from one generation of students to the next. One of them is Portugal’s Rocket Experiment Division (RED), from Instituto Superior Técnico. Every winner since 2021 is back: Aerospace Team Graz, champions in 2023 and 2025, Skyward, in 2022 and 2024, and EPFL Rocket Team, in 2021. Five teams are competing in the rookie category for new teams with little or no experience, and four are taking part for the first time.

“In the first stage of selection, experience carries weight: we look at the projects the teams have worked on, the flights they have completed and the competitions they have entered. A newly formed team, and several appear every year, would struggle to reach the launch pad, so we decided to reserve these places for new teams, some of which were created specifically to compete at EuRoC,” explains Inês d’Ávila, Space Transportation and Space Safety Officer at the Portuguese Space Agency and one of EuRoC’s managers.

The competition challenges students to develop engineering solutions that meet demanding technical and safety criteria, bringing academic training closer to the real conditions of the space industry.

“For many of these students, the team is their first professional experience. They learn to design a complex system, manage a budget, win over sponsors and meet deadlines and safety rules. These are lessons they will never forget, and it is exactly what industry is looking for,” says Marta Gonçalves, Education and Science Officer at the Portuguese Space Agency.

Portugal is represented by RED, from Instituto Superior Técnico, and by the Minho Aerospace Students’ Team (MAST), from the University of Minho, which makes its debut with the Miragem project. RED has 78 members, and women make up 35% of the team. MAST, founded in 2024, has 54 students. This year Portugal submitted eight applications, its highest number ever, and was the country with the most applicant teams for the second year running. Portuguese students also compete on international teams, including the Swiss ARIS and EPFL Rocket Team.

The seventh edition got underway this morning, as the teams arrived in Constância and set up their workspaces in the Municipal Sports Pavilion. The official opening ceremony takes place tomorrow, Friday, at 11:00 am, with the American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, one of the world’s best-known science communicators. Also attending will be Ricardo Conde, President of the Portuguese Space Agency, Sérgio Oliveira, Mayor of Constância, General Eduardo Mendes Ferrão, Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Army, and Alexander Kinnaird, Engineering Coordinator at ESA Academy. After the ceremony, Neil deGrasse Tyson will visit the team areas, where students will be preparing their rockets for launch.

From 17 to 20 October, the competition enters its main phase, with launches at the Santa Margarida Military Camp. Three launch windows are planned each day, from 10:00 to 11:00, 13:00 to 14:00 and 16:00 to 17:00, subject to weather and safety conditions. Meanwhile, the Municipal Sports Pavilion in Constância will be open to the public from 08:00 to 23:00, allowing visitors to watch the teams at work and learn about their projects. Access to the launch area is restricted for safety reasons, and public tickets are limited. They can be booked via a link to be shared on the social media channels of EuRoC and the Portuguese Space Agency.

The competition ends on 21 October, when the teams present their results and rocket performance between 10:00 and 11:00. The closing and awards ceremony takes place the same day from 14:00 at the Municipal Sports Pavilion in Constância.