America Rocketry Challenge (ARC) is an aerospace design and engineering event for teams of US secondary school students (6th through 12th grades) run by the NAR and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). Teams can be sponsored by schools or by nonprofit youth organizations such as Scouts, 4-H, or Civil Air Patrol (but not the NAR or other rocketry organizations). The goal of ARC is to motivate students to pursue aerospace as an exciting career field, and it is co-sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers, Estes Industries, the Department of Defense, and NASA.

The first sixteen Team America Rocketry Challenges, held in 2003 through 2018, were the largest model rocket contests ever held. Co-sponsored by the NAR and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), the sixteen events together attracted 11,360 middle & high-school teams made up of a total of over 70,000 students from all 50 states. These students had a serious interest in learning about aerospace design and engineering through model rocketry. The top 100 teams each year came to a final fly-off competition in mid-May near Washington, DC, to compete for $100,000 in prizes and a free trip to either the Paris or the Farnborough (England) air show in Europe (Farnborough in even years, Paris in odd years). These teams were selected based on the scores reported from qualification flights that they conducted locally throughout the US.

MARS Support for ARC

MARS is always available for TARC qualifying launches, Youth group mentoring, we can even help poorly funded groups find funds. For assistance just reach out on our Contact page