Students from Bath University will be gazing skywards in New Mexico over the next two days as they look to bring home the coveted Spaceport America Cup 2019, the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket engineering competition, thanks to the sponsorship and supply chain expertise of SEKO Logistics’ UK Aerospace & Aviation ‘Center of Excellence’ team at Farnborough Airport.
Needing financial support, packaging, customs, dangerous goods and transportation advice for the rocket’s 5,000 mile journey, the students reached out to SEKO’s specialists located at the home of UK aerospace to help get their rocket project off the ground – and SEKO was soon on-board with the offer of a total door-to-door solution.
To ensure the Bath University team were ready to launch, SEKO made a custom-built crate to protect the rocket’s delicate avionics system and its supporting equipment on its journey from the UK to New Mexico, which began on-board SEKO’s latest SmartHub vehicle from Bath and continued all the way through to delivery to the team’s hotel close to the Spaceport America Cup site in the US. SEKO took care of all customs compliance for the shipment in order to import it into the US with duty/tax relief and worked with SEKO colleagues in New Mexico to organize the rocket’s local ground transportation. On its return to the UK, SEKO will also ship the rocket motor, which will contain residual fuel and, therefore, be classified as dangerous goods cargo.
Now in its third year, the Spaceport America Cup is hosting 122 teams and over 1,500 students from more than 70 American and international colleges and universities, who will be launching solid, liquid, and hybrid rockets to target altitudes of 10,000 and 30,000 feet at Southern New Mexico’s world class spaceport facility. Competitors will present the results from a year or more of research and development to peers and prospective employers in an academic conference before putting their designs to the ultimate test by attempting to launch their rockets under real world conditions at Spaceport America.
Dean Townsend, Director of SEKO Logistics’ Farnborough facility, sent his best wishes to the Bath University team on the eve of the competition: “We are really proud to be supporting the team and made sure they arrived in New Mexico on-time and with everything they need to compete. Our Aerospace & Aviation ‘Center of Excellence’ at Farnborough’s Cody Technology Park is now one of the fastest-growing parts of SEKO’s global business as we have demonstrated our unique logistics and technology solutions to the aerospace industry. Helping the Bath University team is an opportunity for us to give something back to the next generation of aerospace engineers and technicians, who may one day also become customers of SEKO as the begin their careers in this dynamic sector. We wish the team every success and will be watching their progress with great interest.”
