


ADS is the proud organiser of the UK Youth Rocketry Challenge (UKROC) and has been running the event annually since 2006.
The challenge is aimed at students aged 11 – 18 from any secondary schools, colleges, educational facilities or youth groups to design, build and launch a model rocket with a fragile payload.
The rocket must reach a set altitude with specific total flight duration and must adhere to the specific set rules. The competition’s rules and scoring parameters change each year to challenge the students’ ingenuity and encourage a fresh approach to rocket design.
After submitting your registration online there are three main stages of the competition;
In order to attend a Regional Event, you must register for the competition before the deadline date. You and your team can then attend a Regional Event nearest to you to launch your rocket and record your qualifying flights. Your rocket launch will be scored by our Rocketry Experts.
The best scoring team from each Regional Event will automatically go through to the UK National Final.
The 20 top scoring teams from the Regional Events will meet at our National Final in Buckminster, Grantham. Similar to the Regional Events, you and your team will launch your rocket and if you win, well then you can start packing your suitcase as you’ll be going to compete in the International Finals!
The International Finals
This is the third and final stage of the competition. The UK winning team from the National final will compete against the winning teams from America, France and Japan at the Farnborough International Airshow 2022! We will fund the UK winning team to attend.
Watch the 2019 International Final video.
1/. We are aware that there are considerable difficulties sourcing altimeters for this year’s UKRoC competition.
Exceptionally and for this year ONLY it has been decided that for both Regional Qualification Events and the National Finals the altitude element of the competition has been dispensed with ie. results will be based solely on keeping eggs intact and duration scores and NOT on height attained.
2/. We have also changed the duration target currently 41 to 44 seconds to just 44 seconds ie.removing the time variant.
3/. The winning team representing the UK at the International Final (Farnborough) will still have to use an altimeter and try to reach the target height per the published Mission Statement and for this reason we suggest you ensure your model incorporates a payload bay able to contain an altimeter. This is not a requirement but if you do have an altimeter we suggest you use it as that will provide useful flight information.
4/. We (ADS) can provide motor hardware and altimeters to the National winning team for testing purposes. At the International Finals the organisers will provide motors and altimeters.
5/. It is most important that you order your rocket parts as soon as possible to ensure availability. Most come from America and if they are not in stock in the UK delays can occur. We recommend you contact your preferred supplier to find out when they expect to be able to meet your order or in the alternative what items they can offer instead.