SYDNEY, NOVA SCOTIA - (NewMediaWire) - June 12, 2024 - Protospace Mfg is thrilled to announce our continued sponsorship of the Spaceport America Cup, the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket engineering competition, taking place at Spaceport America in Las Cruces, New Mexico, June 17-22, 2024. Held annually at the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport, this prestigious event challenges university students to design, build, and launch rockets to target altitudes of 10,000 and 30,000 feet.

“I couldn’t be more excited for our company to continue to support this important event,” said Doug Milburn, Co-Founder and President of Protospace Mfg. “Our work with Spaceport America Cup allows young people to get an informative window into many aspects of prototyping for the aerospace field, and the singular ways we approach that work at Protospace Mfg. And as big believers in hands-on education and training, we love that our manufacturing support enables these students to better iterate their designing and testing work.”

The Spaceport America Cup, organized by the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA), brings together over 100 university teams from around the globe. This competition offers students invaluable hands-on experience and promotes excellence in aerospace engineering. Spaceport America provides the essential infrastructure and facilities, including launch pads, tracking systems, and safety measures, ensuring a seamless and secure event.

Marking our second year as a sponsor, Protospace Mfg proudly supports this competition, following our inaugural sponsorship in 2023, just one month after the launch of Protospace Mfg as a division of Protocase Inc. Our commitment to fostering innovation and supporting the next generation of aerospace engineers is unwavering.

Manufacturing Support for Teams

All teams registered for the 2024 Spaceport America Cup receive a $1,000 USD in-kind manufacturing credit from Protospace Mfg. This credit can be utilized for sheet metal fabrication, CNC machining, or 3D printing services. Teams have the opportunity to design and order custom enclosures, panels, brackets, and other essential parts. Examples of past use include payload walls, bulkheads, thrust plates, and various enclosures and assemblies.

Why We Sponsor

Freeing Students’ Time:

• Our manufacturing credit allows students to focus more on designing and testing their rockets rather than spending excessive hours fabricating parts. By leveraging our expertise, they can allocate more time to the numerous other critical aspects of their projects.

Enabling Iteration and Testing:

• Innovation thrives on testing and refinement. With our ultra-fast manufacturing lead times, student teams receive their parts swiftly, allowing ample time for thorough testing and problem-solving.

Professional Experience:

• Competing students gain valuable real-world experience by interacting with a professional manufacturing process. This experience prepares them for future careers in aerospace and related fields, giving them a significant edge as they enter the workforce.

Protospace Mfg is dedicated to supporting initiatives that nurture student innovation and excellence. Our relationship with ESRA underscores our commitment to providing student teams with the resources and support they need to excel in this competition and beyond. While our partnership with Spaceport America is primarily financial, our true investment is in the future of aerospace engineering and the bright minds that will shape it.

We are joined in our sponsorship by prominent industry leaders, including OnShape, Blue Origin, Honeywell, New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Virgin Galactic, Marotta, Estes Energetics, Ansys, Fiore, Relativity Space, SolidWorks, Siemens, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Sandia National Laboratories, Space Dynamics Laboratory, and Northrop Grumman.

For more details about our sponsorship and the opportunities available to student teams, please visit our Spaceport America Cup sponsorship page (https://protospacemfg.com/spaceport/).

About Protospace Mfg

Headquartered in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Protospace Mfg is a division of Protocase Inc., specializing in providing high-quality, rapid manufacturing solutions for the aerospace industry and beyond. Our mission is to empower innovators with the tools they need to bring their ideas to life, swiftly and efficiently. Protospace Mfg is proud to be at the forefront of supporting educational excellence and innovation through our sponsorship of the Spaceport America Cup. Together, we are propelling the future of aerospace engineering. 

About Spaceport

Spaceport America is the first purpose-built commercial spaceport in the world. The FAA-licensed launch complex, situated on 18,000 acres adjacent to the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, has a rocket-friendly environment of 6,000 square miles of restricted airspace, low population density, a 12,000-foot by 200-foot runway, vertical launch complexes, and about 340 days of sunshine and low humidity.

Media Contact:
Jon Lindsay Phillips
Phone: 704.942.1557
Email: Protospace@phillcomm.global