by Keith Yoerg, Secretary, Reaction Research Society
The society held its monthly meeting for March on Friday, the 11th, at 7:30pm by teleconference.
The following items were on the agenda.
Chris Lancaster’s presentation on rocket bikes and drag racing history
Review of recent MTA events, USC RPL static fire
Upcoming events at the MTA
Delivery of new 40-foot storage container by Dimitri Timohovich
Site maintenance and upgrades
Wolframe Blume’s next flight of the Gas Guzzler
Bill Inman’s testing for steam rocketry
Low power launches
Upcoming university event requests and inquiries
USC RPL static fire and flight
University of Michigan, MASA in May 2022
UC Irvine and Cal Poly Pomona
UCLA
Student classes and launches
LAPD CSP – STRIVE event, 4/2/2022
YMCA classes, launch on 5/1/2022(?)
RRS post office box, renewal and other options
We spent the majority of our time on the subject of early rocketry in drag racing and rocket bikes. Chris Lancaster of Pennsylvania spent an extraordinary amount of time researching this subject and the specific rocket bike built by Henk Vink now on exhibit in Germany. A stand-alone article on this topic may be forthcoming.
Henk Vink, racing a rocket-powered motorcycle in Europe
The MTA firing report from 3/12/2022 covers the events from that day following the meeting. The anticipated events were discussed at the meeting.
The RRS will continue to keep our post office box in Los Angeles (Inglewood) 90009 for another year. The annual cost has been rising but it remains well used for correspondence.
Reaction Research Society; P.O. Box 90933; Los Angeles, CA, 90009
Our director of research, Richard Garcia, agreed to investigate LNG safety guidelines with regard to flaring of this volatile fuel in amateur rocketry applications. He will submit his findings to the council for internal peer review. The RRS will be creating a policy on this issue as some amateur liquid rocket projects intend to use natural gas (largely methane).
example of an industrial-scale flare stack
Further updates to this meeting report are forthcoming.
Next meeting will be April 8th. For those interested in attending, contact the RRS secretary.
The latest meeting of the Reaction Research Society took place via video call on Friday, February 11th and had eighteen attendees.
Screenshot of discussion during the monthly meeting
DISCUSSION ON USC RPL STATIC FIRING – EARTHSHAKR III
The meeting kicked off with a discussion of the static fire that was to be conducted the following day at the MTA. Osvaldo Tarditti will be the Pyro Op in charge. The wear and tear of testing has become evident on the concrete pad near the vertical test stand, and a question was raised about the best option for future tests by USC at the MTA. Some RRS members raised concerns about any additional drilling into the concrete, and have expressed a desire to eliminate the tripping hazard of permanent bolts. One option discussed and preferred by some members was launching in a vertical orientation. Other members prefer the horizontal orientation that USC has been using.
All members agreed that safety is the #1 priority. John Krell recalled having a friend die in the 60s from fragments of a metal casing that exploded. USC uses a carbon fiber casing, which produces much less dangerous fragments in the event something goes wrong. Fiberglass was mentioned as another alternative safer than metal.
REMINDER TO PAY DUES
We received another reminder to pay dues for 2022 from the Treasurer:
$40/year for full members was due on January 1st
$20/year for student members
Pay via PO Box or “Donate” button to the right
PRESENTATION ON THE COMPTON COMET PROJECT
Joel Cool-Panama and Manuel Marquez presented on the progress of the “Compton Comet.” This RRS project utilizes a 1,500 lbf LOX/ethanol engine. The rocket is under construction at Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum at the Compton/Woodley Airport.
Slide from the presentation on the Compton Comet
Both presenters (Joe & Manuel) are RRS members and students at CSU Dominguez Hills. The hopes are to complete a static fire of the liquid rocket engine at the MTA sometime this year.
UPDATES ON MTA SITE MAINTANENCE & UPGRADES
The discussion then moved to the progress on site upgrades and maintenance: namely the new bathroom and the repair of the Dosa Building window that was broken during Bill Inman’s destructive propane bottle test. On the bathroom front, there was little progress to report. Dimitri is taking the lead on bathroom construction but had been working on pyrotechnics for the Los Angeles Super Bowl, which understandably left little time for the bathroom construction. Progress is expected to pick back up in the upcoming weeks.
Osvaldo outlined the plans he had to repair the glass in the Dosa building. Because this is not the first time a window had to be replaced, Osvaldo designed an aluminum frame which locks into place and allows removal and replacement of the pane from inside the Dosa building. He intends to install a plexiglass panel in the place as a test. It would likely be more resistant to shattering, but may get cloudy or present other unforeseen issues. The only way to find out is to test it!
DISCUSSION OF BILL INMAN’S DESTRUCTIVE TEST
As mentioned earlier in this post, Bill Inman conducted an elevated temperature burst test of a 5-gallon (20-pound) propane container partially filled with water. A detailed report on that test from Bill can be found here.
DISCUSSION OF UCLA LIQUID TEST FIRING
Earlier in February, UCLA planned 3 liquid rocket engine tests in a single day – an ambitious goal. A summary of the day from the Pyro Op in charge, Dave Nordling, can be found here.
UPDATE ON THE NEW FEE STRUCTURE FOR MTA USE
The executive council approved a new fee structure for use of the MTA, which are specific to non-RRS members. RRS members are still allowed to use the site with the usual requirements in place. The new fee structure is as follows:
$1,000 / day for schools
$1,500 / day for private companies
A minimum 14-day advance notice is required, and reservations are subject to availability of Pyro Ops qualified to oversee the testing taking place.
UPCOMING MTA EVENTS
The MTA has a busy several months coming up. Frank updated the membership on the student classes, a new set of which will begin on the 23rd of February for the LAPD Strive class. Classes are scheduled once a week through March with the launch on April 2nd. Another set of classes with the YMCA will begin in early April, with a similar schedule and a launch date set for May 1st.
The University of Michigan has requested the MTA be reserved for a testing campaign on a LOX-RP1 liquid rocket engine from May 6th – 13th. USC has also expressed interest in conducting further testing in the near future.
Wolfram Blume updated the membership on his project the “Gas Guzzler.” He is finalizing the re-build of the parts damaged in the last flight and hopes to have the repairs complete in late-February, with a new launch shortly thereafter.
NEXT MONTHLY MEETING
Chris Lancaster has been corresponding with a museum in Germany who has one of George Garboden’s rocket motors installed in a racecar. They are preparing a presentation for the March meeting about this machine of interest!
The next RRS monthly meeting will be held virtually on Friday, March 11th at 7:30 pm pacific time. Current members will receive an invite via e-mail the week of the meeting. Non-members (or members who have not received recent invites) can request an invitation by sending an email to:
secretary@rrs.org
Please check your spam folders and add secretary@rrs.org to your email whitelist to make sure you are receiving the meeting invitation.
The society held its first monthly meeting of the new year by teleconference on Friday, January 14, 2022. We welcomed our newly elected officers including our new society president, Dave Nordling.
The meeting started by reminding everyone that membership dues for 2022 must be paid by January 1. Despite prior notices, the RRS decided that member dues for 2022 will remain at 2021 rates, $40 for associate and administrative members, $20 for student members, Payments can be made through Paypal using the “Donate” link button on the RRS.ORG website.
In addition to the treasurer’s report, the Amazon Smile account of the RRS received over $100 from quarterly purchases made by those who selected the RRS as their charitable organization.
An update was presented to the society. on the progress made with the new restroom facility at the Mojave Test Area.
The recent MTA launch event on 12-17-2021 was reviewed. The firing report is posted on the RRS website.
A testing event at the Mojave Test Area on Saturday, January 15th, is planned, The pyrotechnic operator in charge is Dave Nordling,
Member project updates were made at the meeting including the Compton Comet and the Scalded Cat.
The society is encouraging our members to seek their pyrotechnic operator licenses through CALFIRE. This will help the society have greater flexibility in our operations and give us a greater voice in amateur rocketry in our state,
UCLA is planning to hold another static fire of their liquid rocket at the MTA on 2/5/2022. Dave Nordling will be the pyrotechnic operator in charge.
The Compton Comet team will make a presentation to the society on their progress to date and remaining objectives at the next monthly meeting to be held February 11, 2022.
