The Daedalus team from MAST – Minho Aerospace Student’s Team – has been selected from 61 applications as one of the 25 teams taking part in the European Rocketry Challenge 2026, through the DAEDALUS project, and the students at the UMinho School of Engineering could not be more excited: “This represents a huge step forward for the team’s ambitions and recognises the hard work put in over the last few months. Now we’re going to work even harder to make the most of this opportunity and fly high in October.”

The European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC) is the first rocket launch competition aimed at European university teams. The Portuguese Space Agency launched the competition in 2020 and, since then, has brought together teams from various European countries in the Alentejo region. With steady and sustained growth, the 2026 edition of the competition is supported by the Portuguese Army and Constância Municipal Council.

𝐃𝐚𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐬 is the team dedicated to developing the rocket that aims to mark the University of Minho’s first participation in EuRoC 2026, one of the most important European university competitions in the field of aerospace engineering. “Over the past few months, we have been building not only an ambitious technical project, but also a close-knit, motivated team that is ready for the challenges ahead,” say the students involved in a post on their social media.

At this stage, the project brings together 52 students from different engineering disciplines, including Aerospace, Mechanical, Electronic, Biomedical, Information Systems Management, and Applied Statistics, who are developing MIRAGE, the rocket that will represent Portugal at EuRoC 2026.

The School of Engineering wishes Daedalus every success and congratulates MAST on its enthusiasm and commitment to the application, which will enable our students to take part in this important competition!