Welcome to the site of the Student Aerospace Challenge
The 20th exercise is about to start
For this new exercise, two vehicles are proposed: a high-speed, long-range suborbital vehicle and an orbital vehicle servicing low-Earth orbit. As every year, the work packages have been reviewed.
The website has a "My Challenge" tab, which should make it easier for participants to find useful information during the exercise. An "FAQ" tab will soon be available.
Here are the key dates for 20th exercise:
- From 4th to 16th November 2025: application period
- 28th November 2025: deadline for sending the Work Package sheet
- 17th December 2025: deadline for sending first progress report
- 23rd January 2026: deadline for validation by Experts
- 26th February 2026: deadline for sending second progress report
- 18th March 2026: deadline for answer from Experts
- 5th April 2026: deadline for sending a 10-line summary explaining the work done
- 23rd April 2026: webinar presenting the "Aerospace Challenge Day"
- 3rd May 2026: deadline for sending final report, poster and bilingual work summary
- 25th June 2026: « The Aerospace Challenge Day », a special event, gathering students and Partners, ending the exercise
The Challenge, proposed by Astronaute Club Européen (ACE) and its industrial and institutional partners (ArianeGroup, Dassault Aviation, the European Space Agency and Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace), allows students to participate to the study of a manned suborbital vehicle which is a reusable vehicle designed either for high speed, long-range suborbital flights or a space manned vehicle servicing Low Earth Orbits.
If you are an undergraduate or a graduate student from a European college or university, you are given an opportunity to create a team with fellow students and to work on a meaningful project covering many topics (technical, medical or legal aspects, etc...). You can put your knowledge into practice within the framework of a project (linked to your core activity or in complement) concerning an evolving field.
Go through this web site, speak about it around you, form your team and send your application to the Selection Committee to possibly, as hundreds of engaged students during former years, actively take part in this adventure while strengthening your ability to join the professional world.
Good reading and see you soon!
Challenge News
Results for the nineteenth exercise
Of the thirty-seven teams registered for the nineteenth exercise of the Student Aerospace Challenge, twenty-one teams, represinting 89 students, submitted their final report. This high number of teams is a record for the Challenge. Following evaluation by the Steering Committee of the Challenge, composed of partners and experts, the list of winning teams is as follows:
- SPHERE (Université Libre de Bruxelles - Brussels, Belgium) received ESA Grand Prix for its work on the preliminary design of an attitude control system,
- Orbit WUT (Warsaw University of Technology - Warsaw, Poland) was awarded by ArianeGroup Prize for its work on on the preliminary design of an attitude control system,
- Astro-Spaceship (ISAE-Supaéro - Toulouse, France) received Dassault Aviation Prize for the design of its OSIRIS shuttle, able to perform different types of mission in Low Earth Orbit,
- PoliTOrbital - Medical Aspects (Politecnico di Torino - Turin, Italy) was awarded by the Communication Prize, sponsored by ACE, for the emphasizing of work related to the design of a lightweight low power system for sleep monitoring in orbit.
In addition, during the Aerospace Challenge Day, ASTRA Team (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki - Thessaloniki, Greece) received the Aerospace Challenge Day’s Special Prize, sponsored by Air and Space Museum, for the best presentation related to its work leading to the proposal for a regulation devoted to suborbital flights at altitudes between 21 and 100 km.
02/07/2024
Results for the eighteenth exercise
Among the 28 registered teams for the eighteenth exercise of the Student Aerospace Challenge, 16 teams returned their report. Evaluation by the Steering Committee of the Challenge, composed of partners and experts leads to the following prize list:
- SARM (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid - Madrid, Spain) received ESA Grand Prix for its Phase-0 design of an autonomous and reusable space module,
- TUKERS (Technical University of Kosice - Kosice, Slovakia) was awarded by the ArianeGroup Prize for its work on active heatshield cooling solutions,
- OrbitOut (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - Lausanne, Switzerland) received Dassault Aviation Prize for its study related to CIRCE, a modular training approach to navigate through space,
- PoliTOrbital - Medical Aspects (Politecnico di Torino - Turin, Italy) was awarded by the Communication Prize, sponsored by ACE, for the emphasizing of work related to AI-aided wearable device for health monitoring during a low orbital flight.
In addition, during the Suborbital Day, UPogee (University of Patras - Patras, Greece) received the Suborbital Day’s Special Prize, sponsored by Air and Space Museum, for the best presentation related to its work on the preliminary design approach of a manned LEO spaceplane.
13/06/2023
Results for the seventeenth exercise
Among the 19 registered teams for the seventeenth exercise of the Student Aerospace Challenge, 14 teams returned their report. Evaluation by the Steering Committee of the Challenge, composed of partners and experts leads to the following prize list:
- SALTO (Politecnico di Torino - Turin, Italy) received ESA Grand Prix for its study related to radiation protection,
- InTOstellar (Politecnico di Torino - Turin, Italy) was awarded by the ArianeGroup Prize for its work to design reusable propulsion system for green suborbital flights,
- SpaceTOurists (Politecnico di Torino - Turin, Italy) received Dassault Aviation Prize for its study related to sizing and aerodynamics analysis of a wing-body suborbital vehicle,
- Space Doctors (Medical University & Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy - Varnia, Bulgaria) was awarded by the Communication Prize, sponsored by ACE, for the emphasizing of work related to a small medical robot.
In addition, during the Suborbital Day, MISS (Université Libre de Bruxelles - Brussels, Belgium) received the Suborbital Day’s Special Prize, sponsored by Air and Space Museum, for the best presentation related to its work on the design of a suborbital health monitoring platform.