Student Aerospace Challenge: a European multidisciplinary contest and tertiary educational programme

Inspired by the first successful tests of a private manned spaceplane in 2004, the Student Aerospace Challenge was created in 2006 by the European Astronaut Club and its partners - Dassault Aviation, the European Space Agency, the International Astronautical Federation, Safran and Thales at the time - to allow European university students to explore some aspects of manned suborbital vehicles.

Until 2020, the Challenge focused on a local reusable vehicle reaching Mach 3.5 and an altitude of 100 km. Today, this vehicle is no longer proposed, but two other types of vehicles can be studied: a manned suborbital vehicle, capable of hypersonic point-to-point transportation (taking less than one hour to travel from Paris to Tokyo, for example); and an orbital vehicle servicing Low Earth Orbit.

Each year, the Steering Committee currently composed of representatives from the Astronaute Club Européen (ACE), ArianeGroup, Dassault Aviation, the European Space Agency and Le Bourget Air and Space Museum define several work packages corresponding to a large variety of study domains realistically related to this type of innovative vehicles. The portfolio of work packages includes mission profile and concept, design of a low carbon sustainable vehicle, reusable propulsion/maintenance, medicine, applications, promotion/communication, legal framework, market analysis and commercial operations.

In light of their background and interest, European university students have the opportunity to work in teams of 4-5 students, over several months, on a topic related to one of the work packages and to explore new solutions. Proposed projects should be technically realistic, economically viable and environmentally friendly.

The Challenge schedule aligns with the European academic calendar. Student teams apply to the Challenge before end of October and submit the last version of their project documentation in May. Throughout the months, reports and posters issued by the student teams are evaluated by the partners’ experts in the field and feedback is provided.

Each year, the challenge ends with the Aerospace Challenge Day. This symposium-like event is organised to allow the student teams to pitch their projects and meet representatives of the different partners. The best-quoted projects are rewarded with prizes, among them, the ESA Grand Prize offering the winning team the unique opportunity to present their project in an appropriate European space-related event.

To date, 259 teams and 1186 university students coming from all over Europe have taken part in the Student Aerospace Challenge, a motivating and ambitious multidisciplinary educational programme. Their participation allowed them to complement their knowledge, learn new skills and widen their network in the space sector.