Ep135: The 2025 IREC Rocket Competition

In this episdode, we welcome Steve Taylor from The Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA)

Each year, ESRA accepts over 150 collegiate teams from around the world to compete in the International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) for the prestigious title of overall winner!

Each team designs, builds, tests and launches rockets with a payload size of up to 2.2 Kg and target altitudes of either 10,000, 30,000, 45,000 even up to 100,000 feet! Rockets are typically 4 to 8 inches in diameter and 8 to 20 ft. long. Multistage rockets and all chemical propulsion types (solid, liquid, and hybrid) are allowed. The goal is to have participants learn their skills by doing (motto: Learn by doing) in a safe educational rich environment.

The IREC has been an annual occurrence since 2006. The competition achieved international status in 2011 – when schools from Canada and Brazil joined – and has continued to grow rapidly ever since. More than 1,800 students attended the 2024 competition, representing over 120 schools from 22 countries on 5 different continents.

ESRA has operated the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) since 2006.

Competitions have been held in the following locations:

2006-2016 - Green River, Utah

2017-2024 - Spaceport America, New Mexico

This year, it happens at 2025 - Spaceport Midland, Texas.

For more info, Visit: https://soundingrocket.org

Mentioned in this episode:

The Rocketry Forum