Ben Everitt, the MP for Milton Keynes North, is encouraging any 11-18-year-old interested in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) to enter the UK’s largest youth rocket competition – the UK Youth Rocketry Challenge (UKROC).
Registered teams from Milton Keynes will compete against other students in the region for a place in the national finals in May 2023 to be crowned national champions.
The national champions will win an all-expenses paid trip to Paris, to represent the UK in a fly off against international teams from the USA, Japan, and France at the Paris Airshow in 2023.
UKROC involves the design, build, and launch of a model rocket, with the payload of one raw egg representing the astronauts. The rocket must get closest to at least 850 feet in altitude within a goal timeframe of 42-45 seconds and the ‘astronaut’ must remain intact throughout the launch and landing. Teams across the UK compete regionally to qualify for the national finals with the winners representing the UK in a fly-off against international teams at the 2023 Paris Airshow. Rules governing the competition are altered each year to encourage innovative thinking amongst participants and ensures previous designs can’t be repeated.
UKROC enables young people to gain practical insight into how STEM subjects are used by the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors which support more than one million jobs across the country, providing high-wage and high skilled careers that boost local economies and communities.
Ben attended a Parliamentary Drop-in event in Westminster hosted by UKROC to meet students who took part in last year's competition.
Ben Everitt MP said: “The UK Youth Rocketry Challenge provides 11-18-year-olds with a unique opportunity to work together and put into practice key skills in engineering and physics, inspiring and paving the way for them to become the future engineers and scientists our country needs.
“The rocketry challenge is a one of a kind and a great hands-on learning opportunity for 11-18-year-olds and a lot of fun. Anyone who is an aspiring astronaut, physicist, engineer, or scientist, should enter this competition to gain invaluable experience.
“I hope local schools in Milton Keynes take part in the competition, and I look forward to supporting and cheering them on as they reach for the stars.”
