by Joel Cool-Panama, Secretary, RRS.ORG
The Reaction Research Society held its monthly meeting at the Mary Star of the Sea High School, 7:30 PM PST. We went over the agenda quickly as the symposium preparations for the next day were underway.
Agenda topics of the meeting were:
- Symposium in preparation
- Model rocket flights at Mary Star High School were not approved
- Mark Holthaus of FAR confirmed to attend
- RRS charitable trust status being examined
- Jim Gross’ eletrical firing video to be hosted over Zoom
- permission granted for educational purposes
- DVD will be donated to the RRS
- permission granted for educational purposes
- RRS invited to LMU’s Engineering Design Showcase
- Dave plans to attend
- Pyro-op recommendation letters (Larry)
- UCLA Capstone and Frank school launch both on June 10 at MTA
- Bill Claybaugh next launch on Saturday, April 22nd
Current Events
The first topic of discussion at this month’s meeting was that LAFD did not approve the model rocket launch at the RRS Symposium. Paper rockets will be flowninstead.
In addition to this good news, it was also revealed that some additional attendees would be present, in addition to those already known. These include Mark Holthaus of FAR, as well as the Lander Challenge project. Unfortunately, it was also revealed that Northrop Grumman had pulled their attendance from the event.
The topic of the RRS’ charitable trust status was also discussed. It seems that California has changed some annual requirements for renewal. The RRS intends to seek answers regarding the changes. The RRS is a registered 501(c)3 educational nonprofit group in California.
There is some good news for those seeking their pyro-op licenses, though. Jim Gross has announced that he will allow his video watch meeting to be hosted over Zoom. Several members are seeking their Class 2 license and need letters of recommendation for their applications..
Continuing in the vein of pyro-op recommendation letters, some have had questions about the standards that license holders use to write them. The topic has been tabled until the next meeting on May 12th..
In regards to public events, the RRS has been invited to Loyola Marymount University’s Engineering Design Showcase event, set to occur on April 28th. RRS President Dave Nordling is set to attend, but the event is open to the public, so any society member may attend if they are so interested.
Bill Claybaugh has a launch event planned at the MTA next Saturday and it is on track. It is expected that his six-inch diameter solid rocket will reach an altitude of 69,000 feet and be recovered within 5 nautical miles of the launch site, but there are some weather concerns regarding the launch day. It was also mentioned that air traffic control wants to have a single point of contact from all waiver holders. For launches from the RRS MTA, this will be the President.
In additon to Bill’s launch, there is also a UCLA launch planned for June 10th. This is the senior capstone project for this year which will be F and G sized model rockets. Vice-President Frank Miuccio coincidentally also has a model rocket class on location that same day, so the two groups are likely to share the MTA.
The next society meeting will be on May 12th, 2023, at the Compton/Woodley Airport location. Contact the secretary for details.