The Regeneratively Cooled Engine Challenge (RCE Challenge) is an annual event hosted by the RRS. The goal of the competition is to encourage collegiate rocketry teams to pursue the development of liquid rocket engines using regenerative cooling. The competition awards a single team, determined by the steady-state impulse duration of a bi-propellant, regeneratively cooled rocket engine. The team that reaches the greatest such duration, as tested by static-fire at the Mojave Test Area (MTA), can win as much as a $50,000 cash prize, in addition to any bonuses earned in accordance to the current and published rules of the competition.

2025 Competition

The 2025 RCE Challenge will start on September 15th, 2025, and end July 15th, 2026. The rules for the 2025 RCE Challenge may be found here.

To see the rules for the 2023 and 2024 competition, please read this page.