SAN FRANCISCO, April 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Atlas Cup, the first professional orbital racing league, today announces “Atlas Cup: Proving Grounds,” a collegiate orbital racing championship to be held alongside its inaugural professional championship season in 2028.

Atlas Cup is a sports media property featuring uncrewed spacecraft competing on orbit. Atlas Cup: Proving Grounds introduces a new orbital sport to collegiate audiences and engages leading engineering programs in a new competitive format.

Atlas Cup: Proving Grounds will feature collegiate teams operating CubeSat-class satellites through a series of maneuvers in low Earth orbit. Early interest from leading aerospace engineering programs is strong, and a structured selection process to determine the founding field of university competitors is underway and will conclude in early 2027.

“Proving Grounds is the next phase of college sports, merging collegiate competition with advanced space engineering,” said Philip Hover-Smoot, founder and CEO of Atlas Cup. “It is designed to engage the next generation of technical talent within the orbital sports ecosystem early in their careers.”

Orbital sports are emerging at the intersection of two accelerating trends: growth in the commercial space sector and increasing global sports engagement, particularly at the university level. The inaugural Proving Grounds teams will define a new category of collegiate competition blending athletic structure with engineering execution. This new event extends orbital competition to the world of college sports by leveraging the production infrastructure of Atlas Cup’s professional Grand Prix.

“Atlas Cup is proud to extend into the collegiate sports ecosystem,” added Hover-Smoot. “Proving Grounds gives students a chance to participate in an entirely new form of competition at the cutting edge of engineering.”

About Atlas Cup

Atlas Cup is a professional orbital racing league featuring uncrewed spacecraft competing in low Earth orbit. Founded in 2026, Atlas Cup is developing a global sports property at the intersection of space, media, and competition.

More info at atlascup.com.

Media Contact

Philip Hover-Smoot
connect@atlascup.com
+1.415.347.1377

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SOURCE Atlas Cup, Inc.