DPF stands for a Dollar Per Foot

UCF, Knight Experimental Rocketry, with 4,884-Feet on July 15, 2023

UCLA with 22,437-Feet on March 18, 2023

Purdue with 4,257-Feet on June 5, 2022

SDSU with 13,205-Feet on February 1, 2020

The Rules are as follows:

  • Open to US and Canadian Universities and Colleges only
    • No High-Schools
  • All team members must be current students or has graduated in the school year of the launch
  • Single-Stage Rockets Only
    • No dropping tanks or other portions of the rocket
  • Liquid Propellants Only 
    • No solids or hybrids
    • Can be monopropellant
    •  No water or boiling water as a propellant
    • Starting January 1, 2024; all DPF contestants must use a bipropellant rocket utilizing liquid oxygen as an oxidizer.
  • Must use Two-Stage Recovery
    • Deploys drogue-parachute at apogee
    • Deploys main-parachute below 1000-feet
      • Deploying the main parachute at apogee will disqualify the team
  • Recovers Successfully
    • Returns on main parachute
    • Returns with nosecone and drogue parachute tethered to rocket
    • Sustains only minor damage
      • Fin broken off on landing
      • Rocket engine nozzle damaged on landing
      • No structural damage
      • The rest of the rocket must be in flyable condition
  • It is highly recommended that GPS/Telemetry be added to your rocket to enable easy location of your rocket when it lands.
    • If you can't find your rocket, you will not be given the DPF money.
  • Rocket must be rail launched
    • No active control systems
    • No movable fins
    • No canards
    • No TVC
  • Launches must be performed at FAR Site
  • Launches must be attempted on a normal FAR launch Saturday
    • Some exceptions can be made due to bad weather or high attendance on FAR Saturdays
  • Altitude must be determined by two commercially available recovery electronics
    • The altitude must be determined by the lowest altitude measured of the two
  • The rocket or rocket engine have not received the DPF award before
  • Must meet FAR/Mars safety requirements
  • To compete, the team must agree to provide FAR with a complete set of the rocket design plans so that they may be shared with other student groups-our mission is rocket education! If another student group successfully builds and launches this design, they will receive the one-dollar-per-foot prize AND the original design team will also receive the same one-dollar-per-foot amount!
  • Launches requiring a new FAA COA
    • A predicted altitude over 120,000-feet
    • Rocket total impulse over 18,416 lb-sec (81,918 N-s)
    • Launch team is responsible to acquire a new FAA COA
    • COA must be coordinated with FAR
    • Copy of COA must be sent to FAR two-weeks before launch
  • Registration
    • Register through FAR Competition Registration webpage
      • Register two-weeks before launch
      • This registration does not substitute for a launch request
    • File a Launch Request two-weeks before launch
    • Currently there is no end-date for this contest

Award:

  • $1 per foot of altitude above the end of the launch rail
    • Payable to the launch team's school account