The TEKNOFEST Rocket Competition drew 2,139 applications this year, but only 73 teams made it to the finals. In the final round of the competition — now held for the ninth time by ROKETSAN — these teams are launching their self-designed rockets at the Aksaray Hisar Firing Range between September 7 and 13.
This year’s applications were spread across the High School, Medium Altitude, High Altitude, Advanced Mission, Original Hybrid-Fuel Rocket Motor, and Original Liquid-Fuel Rocket Motor categories. The competition aims to encourage students to pursue rocket and space technologies.
Feeding Young Engineers Into the Industry
Many of the standout participants go on to build careers in the sector, chiefly at ROKETSAN. ROKETSAN General Manager Murat İkinci said, “The young people designing their own rockets today will take on important roles in our country’s goal of full independence as tomorrow’s engineers and technology leaders. By standing alongside their dreams, we are securing both Türkiye’s independence in defence and ROKETSAN’s future.”
TEKNOFEST Rocket Competition Draws Wider International Field
The competition’s international dimension began last year, when three Malaysian teams took part. This year, teams from Saudi Arabia, India, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Azerbaijan, and Indonesia joined the roster, bringing the International category to seven teams in total. İkinci said interest from abroad keeps rising every year, noting that seven teams from six countries are competing in this year’s final round.
Teams placing in their categories will receive their awards at TEKNOFEST Southeast, to be held at Şanlıurfa GAP Airport between September 30 and October 4.
Held in Aksaray Since 2018
The TEKNOFEST Rocket Competition has been held in Aksaray since 2018 through a partnership between the Ministry of Industry and Technology, the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3), and ROKETSAN. Teams of high school, associate, undergraduate, and graduate students are eligible to compete.
The technical objective is for each team’s rocket to reach a designated altitude and safely release its payload, with both the rocket components and the payload recovered by parachute. Top-placing teams also earn a spot at the International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) in the United States, one of the world’s most prestigious rocket competitions.
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Source: C4Defence-Roketsan
