Orbex sponsors 2020-21 UKSEDS National Rocketry Championship

Forres, UK, January 21, 2021 – Orbex has announced that it will sponsor the UKSEDS National Rocketry Championship for 2020-21, which will be titled the UKSEDS Orbex National Rocketry Championship.

The 2020-21 UKSEDS Orbex National Rocketry Championship challenges teams to design, build and launch a mid-power rocket with the primary goal of reaching the greatest apogee possible. Motor selection is limited to ensure fair competition between teams.

The Orbex sponsorship offers funding to all teams entering the competition and full sponsorship to any team that consists of at least 50% women or non-binary members. The goal of this grant is to encourage wider participation in the core technology aspects of launch vehicle design and development.

"We really value hands-on experience, and there's no better way to gain that in rocketry than by building and launching your own rockets," said Chris Larmour, CEO of Orbex. "Partnering with UKSEDS allows us to get involved with all of the student groups working on this technology and hopefully build useful connections for future rocket engineers working on our orbital launch vehicles, which are intended to launch from Sutherland in Scotland."

“We’re very excited to be partnering with Orbex on the National Rocketry Championship 2020-2021; their support will allow us to enhance participation, both improving accessibility and providing the best possible experience for the students,” said Zaria Serfontein, UKSEDS Events and Competitions Team Lead. “Additionally, in line with core values of both UKSEDS and Orbex, the Gender Diversity Grant will help to promote gender diversity within all our UKSEDS competitions, taking steps towards addressing the gender imbalance that exists within the space sector.”

Teams are scored on flight performance, payload and the reports, pictures and videos documenting the project’s entirety. Twenty-eight teams have entered the competition with finals expected to be held in July 2021. As part of the prize for the competition, Orbex will also invite the winning teams to join a test firing of Orbex’s main stage rocket engine.

Orbex is a UK-based spaceflight company with headquarters, production and testing facilities in Scotland, and design and testing facilities in Denmark. Orbex staff members have professional backgrounds with NASA, ESA, Ariane and several commercial spaceflight organisations. The company is now funded by two of the UK’s largest and most active venture capital funds, BGF and Octopus Ventures, who join two of Europe's largest venture capital funds, Heartcore Capital and the High-Tech Gründerfonds, as well as strategic investor Elecnor, parent company of Deimos Space, the UK Space Agency (UKSA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme.

UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (UKSEDS) is the UK’s national student space society. For over 30 years we have been supporting students and young professionals across the country by running events, providing resources, and teaching them new skills. Our alumni work throughout the global space sector in government, industry, and academia. We are a unique organisation run entirely by students and young professional volunteers, and we have a unique insight into the UK space sector from a student perspective, using our expertise and data to advocate for development of the space skills pipeline.

Sonus PR for Orbex
Martin Smith
+44 20 3751 0330
orbex@sonuspr.com