StellarXplorers is a National Aerospace Competition Sponsored by the Air and Space Forces. It challenges students to design satellites, satellite orbits, and satellite launch criteria using professional orbital modeling software to solve specific real-world challenges. In each round of competition, students work as a team to solve an incredibly complex challenge over a 6-hour continuous work period. These challenges have thousands of possible solutions, and students are tasked with weighing the impacts of their decisions to maximize the effectiveness of their scenario solution. Students participate in 6 qualification rounds, after which the top 30% of teams are invited to participate in the semi-finals. Following the semi-finals, the top 10 teams in the country are invited to attend the in-person final event.
As a campus, we had 7 teams of students participate in the challenge this year, including 41 students. Of those teams, 3 advanced to the semi-final round last week. One of our teams has qualified to advance to the final round!
Our advancing team consists of 4 of our freshman engineering students (Connor Travis, Jack Pitney, Ryan Weinstein, and Bryson Parker), and their semi-final round score placed them 7th in the nation! For context, over 350 teams of students participated this year, and 99 teams advanced to the semi-final round. Those students will now represent Red Mountain and Mesa Public Schools at the National Final Event in Denver, Colorado, on April 17-21.