The National Aerospace Conceptual Design Competition (NACDeC) is a nationwide, annual design challenge for engineering students, organized by the Design Division of Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), in association with Mumbai Branch. Since 2017, we have been challenging the brightest young minds to push the boundaries of aerospace engineering.

The Challenge: Each October, the NACDeC organizing committee releases a unique aerospace conceptual design problem. From the 6th edition onwards, the problems have been proposed in association with some aerospace industry/organization of the country

The Process: Student teams, guided by faculty mentors from their home institutes, spend around a year developing innovative solutions to the problem statement.

The Mentorship: Throughout the year, specialized webinars are conducted to handhold the participants to appreciate the finer aspects of aerospace design from industry veterans.

The Evaluation: An online Design Competency Exam is conducted in mid-January to weed out frivolous or under-prepared teams. This is followed by a two level evaluation of the Initial Design Reports (in March) and the Final Design Reports (in June), through which five finalist teams are shortlisted in July.  

The Finale: The competition culminates the following August, where teams present their final designs to a jury of eminent scientists from top Indian aerospace organizations and academic institutions.