ARIS and the EPFL Team Are Once Again Building Rockets for a Competition in Portugal

(CONNECT) The Swiss Academic Space Initiative (ARIS) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and the EPFL Rocket Team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne are competing in the seventh edition of the rocket competition for European university teams. The European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC) will take place from October 15 to 21 at two locations in the Lentejo region of Portugal: in Constância at a rocket-building site, where the teams will exchange ideas and refine their projects, and at the Santa Margarida military camp, 9 kilometers away, which features a rocket launch facility.

The evaluation criteria include, among other things, the best technical performance, the best spectral signature, and performance in the two categories for the target flight altitude—three and nine kilometers—as well as in various engine categories. In addition, special prizes are awarded, such as last year's Payload Award from the European Space Agency (ESA).

According to a press release from the Portuguese Space Agency, the event organizer, a total of 61 student teams applied to participate in EuRoC 2026. The jury selected 25 of them based on their technical maturity. Three of the Portuguese entries made it into the competition: RED from Lisbon, North Space from Porto—comprising students from several Portuguese universities—and the MAST project group from the University of Minho in northern Portugal. MAST is one of five junior teams in the field.

ARIS is launching its ASTERIA rocket project. Using its two-component liquid-fuel propulsion system, ARIS aims to become the first Swiss student team to launch a two-component rocket to an altitude of 9 kilometers at EuRoC 2026. According to a project report by the team, ASTERIA embodies “a vision for the future of student aerospace engineering in Switzerland.” Students from the University of Zurich (UZH), the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU), and the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) are also involved with ARIS.

The EPFL Rocket Team also flies a cryogenic two-component liquid-fuel rocket, the Firehorn 2. The project aims to compete in the 3-km liquid-fuel category. A flight at an altitude of 9 kilometers is scheduled to take place next year. According to the specifications, the structure is designed to span 30 kilometers. The team had won the second edition of EuRoC in 2021, in part due to its successful landing maneuver, and last year it won the 9-km solid-fuel rocket category.

“This year’s entries were all technically impressive,” said Marta Gonçalves, director of education and science programs at the Portuguese Space Agency. “More and more teams are developing their own liquid and hybrid propulsion systems instead of relying on commercial solid-fuel propulsion systems. This trend shows just how far this ecosystem has come—and it made the selection process really difficult.”

Germany has the most participants, with four teams from Stuttgart, Munich, Aachen, and Darmstadt. Like Portugal, Spain is also represented by three projects, which are based in Seville, Madrid, and Terrassa. Greece is represented by two student groups from Thessaloniki and Athens. Two teams each will also be traveling from Poland (Wrocław, Warsaw) and Italy (Milan, Pisa). Teams from Austria (Graz), Belgium (Ghent), Hungary (Budapest), Ireland (Cork), the United Kingdom (London), and Malta are also competing. ce/mm