On October 15th, Rocket Experiment Division (RED) achieved yet another achievement at the European level. The team from Instituto Superior Técnico Aerospace Engineering Students' Organisation (AeroTéc) reached first place in the European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC) in the 3km apogee category with solid propulsion, using the 'Adamastor' rocket.

In the overall classification of the event, RED was placed in fourth place out of a total of 25 teams registered. “We are very happy with the results, which represent a year of great effort and dedication”, reports Francisca Quaresma, vice-coordinator of the team. “This definitely opened a door to a new era of RED that we intend to continue in the following year”, defended the Aerospace Engineering student.

The European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC) is the first rocket launch competition for European university teams. The Portuguese Space Agency created the competition in 2020 and, since then, it has brought together teams from several European countries in the Alentejo region. The event has already featured previous participation from RED, which, in 2021, became the first Portuguese university team in a university rocket launching competition in Europe, with Blimunda. In addition to this vehicle, there has been Baltasar, the first rocket to be successfully launched and recovered, which was on display in the Central Pavilion, and later, Camões, which participated in the 2023 EuRoC edition.

From the Azores to Alentejo, RED has already launched rockets across the country

At the end of September this year, RED inaugurated the space launch center in Malbusca, in the south of the Azorean island of Santa Maria, with two rockets designed to reach ten kilometers in altitude, as part of the 'Gama' mission.

In addition to the center inauguration, the launch proved to be an added challenge for the students involved – the altitude objective was well above three kilometers, the mark sought in previous RED projects.

“It was a good opportunity to gain experience in a launch context, since it is difficult to launch rockets in mainland Portugal, outside the EuRoC competition context”, shared Francisca Quaresma.

The launch center in Malbusca is managed by the Atlantic Space Consortium ASC, a national consortium between the consultancy Ilex Space and the aeronautical and aerospace construction company Optimal.