About the Competition
Developed by RSA Fellows in the East of England, this challenge is designed to give mechanical and multi-disciplinary students, undergraduate and apprentices around the world an opportunity to create new designs that harness the sun’s energy and prove the viability of solar powered flight.
They will showcase their creativity by demonstrating their skill and design knowledge through their ingenuity, and application of sound engineering principles, while also addressing a broad spectrum of industrial and manufacturing challenges.
The goals of this challenge are to engage engineering students, inspire team work and promote solar energy as a viable and renewable energy form. The RSA is inviting groups of students to design, build and fly model scale aircraft over a measured figure of eight course. The winner in each age group will set an official world record. This record will then be challenged in future years. The winners in each group will also receive a miniature copy of the Schneider Trophy, first awarded in 1912 for the advancement in aircraft design and performance.
Explore our 'How it Works' tab for more information on judging and prizes. Any additional questions, please email Sam Rakusen FRSA: [email protected]
REgister here
to receive competition rules and Solar Challenge Guide
Project Team
Sam Rakusen
Leading the Organisation of the Competition
4 Comments
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Hariksan Shanthakumaran
11th October 2016
How large should the teams be in a school? And who would get the trophy in the team?
Sam Hyman Rakusen
12th October 2016
The team can be of any size. It can be made up of Students and Teachers, mentors or even members from other organisations. This is a real workplace problem solving task. A solar powered drone has never been designed before so this is cutting edge science. The Organisation that enters gets the trophy. Who keeps the trophy is up to the team. Let me know if you want to enter a team and I will send you the rules - email [email protected]
Sam Hyman Rakusen
10th December 2015
The Solar Challenge is getting to be a world wide event. Entries have been received from Turkey and India
David Luigi FUSCHI Ph.D.
9th December 2015
Dear Sam,
I do not run a challenge but I have 2 initiatives in this area as part of a Living Lab managed and run by KIIT University in India. The two activities revolve around designing and testing solar cookers and solar generators for being built and deployed in Indian villages using scrap material as point of start. Do you think this could be of any interest?
Best regards
David