More than 300 students from 32 universities will gather at the Westcott Venture Park in Aylesbury for the final stage of Race2Space, an education initiative supported by the Government's UK Space Agency.
Between June 25 and July 11, teams will "hot-fire" (ignite) rocket engines which they have spent the last year designing and building from scratch. The tests will take place on repurposed Cold War-era test stands, now fully modernised to support live liquid-fuel rocket engine firings.
Race2Space is addressing two urgent challenges threatening the UK's space ambitions: the critical skills gap and the sector's lack of diversity. Britain's space sector is valued at nearly £19 billion and employs more than 52,000 people - but over half of UK space companies report critical skills shortages, with many losing top talent to overseas competitors.
The problem is being compounded by lack of diversity - less than a third (29%) of those working in the UK space sector are women, and just 34% identify as non-white.
Race2Space gives university students the opportunity to tackle complex, real-world engineering challenges that traditional academic courses rarely provide. helping to create a pipeline of "industry ready" rocket engineers.
The programme also works to build a more diverse and inclusive space sector by actively encouraging applications from underrepresented groups and universities nationwide. You can read more about the program here (external link)
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