The UK Aerospace Youth Rocketry Challenge (UKAYRoC) will take place on 29th June 2010 from 0930 – 1500 at the University of Leicester Sports Ground, Oadby, Leicestershire.

20 teams of 3-5 teenagers and their supervising teacher/member of staff will launch rockets in the competition to be fired up 825ft for 40-45 seconds and land without a parachute, ensuring the payload of a medium-sized hen’s egg remains intact. Closest to altitude and target time with an undamaged egg wins.

The winning team going through to International Fly-off at Futures day at the Farnborough International Airshow 2010 to compete against the US (Penn Manor High School in Millersville, Pennsylvania) and French winning teams on 23rd July 2010, as well as an all-expenses paid trip to NASA in Houston, Texas in October 2010. The UK teams of 2008 and 2009 set a very high bar by beating the US challenge on both occasions.

Rockets will fly at 1045-1115, 1130-1200 and 1230-1330 for reflights.

The challenge aims to succeed in “Encouraging school children to enter the world of aerospace, engineering and science,” by getting kids excited about rockets and science so that they become the next generation of aerospace engineers. It’s kids, it’s rockets, it’s rocket science and it’s very exciting.

Also attending will be:

• A|D|S chairman Ian Godden
• Robin Southwell, CEO, EADS UK
• Simon Luxmoore, CEO, Royal Aeronautical Society
• Jeff Moore, CEO, emda
• Richard Peckham, UK Business Development Director, Astrium, also vice president – Space for A|D|S, and the president of UKSpace
• Professor George Fraser, director of the Space Research Centre at Leicester University
• Alan Bond, from Skylon

Sponsors include Chemring, Rolls-Royce, Lockheed Martin, GKN, Raytheon and others from the UK-based world-leading aerospace industry. The entrants work on their own with computer software to design and build their own rocket. Adults supervise and advise the children but the rocket is their own design. Kids must work as a team and get corporate sponsorship for their rocket to help pay their costs. Just like real engineering projects.

www.ukay-roc.org.uk