Australian Universities Rocket Competition draws international teams to remote NSW site

On a remote sheep station in outback New South Wales, rockets are being launched kilometres into the air.

About 20 teams of students have travelled from across Australia, New Zealand and as far away as India to compete in the third Australian Universities Rocket Competition (AURC) at White Cliffs.

The teams are working in partnership with sponsors and companies operating in the aerospace, engineering, defence and university sectors.

AURC event director Jennifer He says the teams design and build their rockets from scratch.

"They're performing all the verification and analysis on them … some are even making their parts in-house at their universities," she said.

"They're developing … their technical skills, but also their organisational [skills], the interpersonal and the way that they connect with each other."

University of Queensland student Thomas Molesworth said it was great to see international teams involved in this year's event.

"As much as we can model and simulate, there's really no telling how it will perform on the pad," he said.

"This is a really good way to apply some of those skills that I've learnt in class to real engineering challenges before moving in the workforce full time.

Most of the teams spent at least a year designing their rockets.

University of Technology Sydney mechanical engineering student Matthew Sutcliffe, 23, is competing for the second time at White Cliffs.

"Ever since I was a kid I'd dreamed of working with rockets and space. It's definitely my passion," he said.

According to UTS data the team's rocket came within 40 feet (12.2 metres) of the 10,000-feet (3,048m) goal.

"All the nerves that were building up to it and just the relief after a perfect flight — it … just made my whole day," he said.

Located more than 1,000 kilometres north-west of Sydney, White Cliffs is an ideal location for launches, according to Endeavour Aerospace operations director Liam Grieve.

He said clear airspace and being "14 kilometres from anyone" ensured safety.

"It is rocket science, at the end of the day, and if anything was to go wrong the area can be contained," Mr Grieve said.

"There are 1,000 things that need to go right and if any one of them go wrong then we have a site that needs to be contained and only those here at the site can be exposed."

Australian Youth Aerospace Association (AYAA) president Myrthe Snoeks said the event had grown considerably since 2019.

This is the third onsite event and the second in outback NSW.

Ms Snoeks is hoping to see more international teams participate in the future.

"Seeing everybody work on these projects, seeing how proud they are when they launch successfully, but also seeing the complexity and growth every year … it's a privilege to witness," she said.