Spaceport America Cup draws students from all over the world to the Borderland region

LAS CRUCES, NM (KVIA) — Over 1,500 students and faculty from around the world are gathering in Southern New Mexico this week for the annual Spaceport America Cup, the world's largest intercollegiate rocketry competition.

The competition is held at the Spaceport America facility in Sierra County. The Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA) has partnered with Spaceport America to host the week-long event.

More than 120 teams from 20 countries and 35 U.S. states are set to participate this year.

The competition begins at the Las Cruces Convention Center, where students will display their rockets and participate in judging for the first two days. The student-designed rockets have been engineered over the past year, and will be launched this week, reaching altitudes of 10,000 to 30,000 feet.

Charlie Hurley, public information officer for Spaceport America told ABC-7 the competition hosts the best engineering students from around the globe, “You have a lot of juniors and seniors and college students who are just about ready to go out and get their degree and enter that STEM and engineering workforce,” he says.

In addition to the rocketry competition, the Spaceport America Cup serves as a “miniature job fair.” Companies such as PTC Onshape, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic will be at the event, providing students with networking opportunities and potential career paths in the aerospace industry. “There's a lot of projections out there saying that this industry is going to be an industry that's worth $1.5 to $2.5 trillion by the year 2040,” said Hurley. “So with all that money being injected into the industry, whether it's in commercial space, your more traditional satellites or, equipment and operations, you're going to need personnel to do all these things.” 

The event also features a regional sub-competition known as the Chile Cup, where teams from UTEP, New Mexico Tech, the University of New Mexico, and New Mexico State University compete for the highest ranking among local institutions.

The competition is a major tourism attraction bringing about 2,000 people, including participants, judges, and spectators. Hurley emphasizes this is an economic driver for the region for the whole seven day span, “This isn't just for Las Cruces. This is for, El Paso and then Sierra County, such as Truth or Consequences, Elephant Butte and all the surrounding areas as well. A lot of international students, a lot of students who this is their first time in New Mexico,” he says.

With hot temperatures in the region expected for this week, Hurley says safety remains their top priority, “We're always stressing safety with the students, the spectators and everybody who's out there. So drinking lots of water, making sure you have sunscreen on and sun protection where you can by wearing long sleeves and long pants.” The heat can also affect equipment, “Through ESRA and Spaceport America we've taken precautions just to kind of make sure that certain areas are shaded where need be,” said Hurley.

The public can view the rocket displays at the Las Cruces Convention Center on Tuesday, June 18, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. 

Spectator passes for the rocket launches at Spaceport America, which run from Wednesday through Saturday, are available for $16 for adults and $9 for children.