How to Get a Rocket with an Egg into the Air, and Why It’s Only the Beginning – Iuliia Kostiuk (CRC25)
What does the journey from your first rocket to an international competition final look like? At Meet the Makers 22 we welcomed Iuliia Kostiuk from the student association Czech Rocket Society, who presented their biggest project – Czech Rocket Challenge. This competition is a gateway to the world of rocket engineering for hundreds of secondary school and university students, not only from the Czech Republic.
Watch the full recording of Iuliia Kostiuk’s presentation from Meet the Makers 22:
The video recording is in Czech.What is the Czech Rocket Challenge?
The Czech Rocket Challenge is a student competition that simulates the complete cycle of designing, developing and testing a rocket. Teams get a motor and the rest is up to them: come up with the design, programme the systems, run simulations, test the fins and plan the landing. All this over several months of preparation, guided by experts from the Czech Rocket Society.
Categories and challenges for every level
The competition is divided by the participants’ experience. Secondary school newcomers start with the “egg” challenge – the goal is to launch a rocket carrying an ordinary egg and bring it back to the ground undamaged. Advanced teams tackle more sophisticated tasks, such as active stabilisation or carrying as much water as possible, which they have to load into the rocket before launch.
Growing interest and international participation
This year 64 teams registered – 37 newcomers, 16 advanced and 11 university teams. Besides teams from the Czech Republic, students from Slovakia, Poland and, for the first time, Greece are taking part. The final will take place on 11 July at the airfield in Moravská Třebová, and the 21 best teams will advance to it.
A long road from registration to launch
The Czech Rocket Challenge is not just a weekend hackathon – it is an eight-month process full of work, documentation and testing. Teams attend workshops, learn simulations in OpenRocket, submit conceptual and final reports and go through standardised load tests. This thoroughness helps the competition grow and brings students closer to the real world of research and development.
Not a rocket scientist? No problem
Iuliia Kostiuk showed that you can be part of a space adventure even without a technical background. She studies project management herself and helps run the competition. The Czech Rocket Society brings together not only engineers but also designers, lawyers and marketers – in short, everyone who wants to help bring spaceflight closer to young people.
The Czech Rocket Society is an independent student association that connects university students across the Czech Republic and abroad. Besides competitions, it also develops its own rockets and popularises spaceflight. PrusaLab and Prusa Research are proud partners of this initiative.
Follow the Czech Rocket Society on their website.
