The Sky Is the Limit: IUS TURBOS Rocketry Team Reaches TEKNOFEST 2026 Finals

The IUS TURBOS Rocketry Team has arrived in Aksaray, Türkiye, to compete in the finals of the 2026 TEKNOFEST Rocket Competition, one of the region’s major competitions for young engineers working in rocket and space technologies.

Accompanied by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tarik Namas, the team travelled to Aksaray with its competition rocket prototype, ready for the final stage after successfully advancing through a highly competitive selection process. This year’s competition attracted 2,139 applications, with only 73 teams – approximately 3.4% of all applicants – earning a place in the finals.

The finals are taking place from September 7 to 13, 2026, at the Aksaray Firing Range. International participation includes seven teams from six countries in the global category, adding an important international dimension to the competition.

For the IUS TURBOS team, the days leading up to the launch are focused on fine-tuning, technical checks and completing the final preparations of the rocket prototype, with the team’s launch scheduled for Saturday.

The competition is organized by ROKETSAN in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Technology of Türkiye and the Türkiye Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation). Now in its ninth year, the competition includes several categories covering different levels of rocket engineering and increasingly complex technological challenges.

Successful teams also have the opportunity to progress further internationally, with winning teams becoming eligible to participate in the International Rocket Engineering Competition in the United States.

Due to competition regulations, photography and filming are restricted during the launch activities. Official images from the competition will therefore become available after the event. Until then, the team’s preparations in Aksaray offer a glimpse of the focus, teamwork and determination behind the IUS TURBOS project.

Reaching the final stage is already an important achievement for the team and reflects the commitment of IUS students and academics to hands-on engineering, innovation and the practical application of knowledge beyond the classroom.

As the team prepares for launch, one thing is certain: for IUS TURBOS, the sky is the limit.