The National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) Formosan Fox rocket-building team is headed to participate in the 2024 Spaceport America Cup, the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket engineering conference and competition. The group departed for the U.S. state of New Mexico on Friday, to throw their hat in the ring with 32 other countries.
Most team members hail from NYCU’s mechanical and electrical engineering departments and Institute of Space Systems Engineering, though students from National Tsing Hua and National Formosa Universities have also joined the race. The Formosan Foxes return after sitting out 2023, bringing more mature technology and sophisticated self-research results. They were the only participants from Taiwan two years ago, and this year the only team from East Asia. Team instructor Zu Puayen Tan (陳竺博淵) says that the students are combining their skills and majors with their high enthusiasm for research and implementation, inspiring many in the process.
The Spaceport America Cup hosts the world’s most ambitious collegiate rocketeers in a part academic conference and part design-build-fly style competition. The groups also communicate with other teams, forming bonds and gaining experience in interdisciplinary fields and multinational cooperation. Not only does the competition broaden research scopes and expand horizons, but it also improves the reliability and efficiency of rocket design, manufacturing, and testing. This year’s goal is to launch a rocket to an altitude of 3,000 meters in the New Mexico desert and successfully recover it.