USU Takes Home 3rd at Annual Rocket Competition

June 26, 2024

The Utah State University rocketry team celebrated several wins at the annual Spaceport America Cup in White Sands, New Mexico.

From June 17-21 thousands of students from around the world competed in a rocket competition with several categories, including altitude, payload, modeling and more. Out of 152 teams, a record 122 of them were able to join the week-long competition.

"It never ceases to amaze me how much energy these students bring to the event,” said Steve Taylor, President of the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association, founding sponsor of the event. “The global community is one of the things we bring together for this event and I’m proud of what we have built over the years."

USU took third place overall at the annual Spaceport America Cup in White Sands, New Mexico. (Photo Credit: Spaceport America.)

USU took third place overall at the annual Spaceport America Cup in White Sands, New Mexico.
(Photo Credit: Spaceport America.)

The USU team, called the Aggie Blue Burners, won in four different categories. They received an honorable mention for Most Improved Year over Year in the Payload Challenge Event, sponsored by the Space Dynamics Lab. The team was named runner-up in the Jim Furfano Award for Technical Excellence and received the Charles Hoult Award for Modeling and Simulation.

Overall, USU finished third in the 10k Commercial Off the Shelf, or COTS, category and sixth overall out of 122 participating teams. Their rocket, dubbed Taurus, reached an altitude of 9,963 feet, only 37 feet short of the 10,000-foot target.

Safety Officer for the team Wyatt Lane expressed his gratitude for the group.

"If you swap out any one person on this team, I don’t think we could have done as much as we did," he said. "Everyone on this team has been extremely dedicated to making this happen."

The Spaceport America Cup provides the region with thousands of tourists in the form of competitors and spectators. Many first-time visitors have the opportunity to learn about New Mexico and its robust history in the aerospace industry.

USU Awards Summary:

  • Third Place | 10k COTS (Commercial Off the Shelf)
  • Runner-Up | Jim Furfano Award for Technical Excellence
  • First Place | Charles Hoult Award for Modeling & Simulation
  • Honorable Mention | Most Improved Payload Year Over Year

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Writer: Sydney Dahle, sydney.dahle@usu.edu, 435-797-7512

Contact: Joel Ellsworth, joel.ellsworth@usu.edu, 735-797-0250