Category Archives: Symposium

80th Anniversary RRS Symposium on April 15, 2023

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by Dave Nordling, President, RRS.ORG

The Reaction Research Society is proud to announce our 80th anniversary symposium to be held at the Mary Star of the Sea High School in San Pedro on Saturday, April 15, 2023, from 8am to 5pm. We have 15 speakers and over 20 exhibitions which is on par with our last symposium four years ago before the pandemic.

Mary Star of the Sea High School is at 2500 N. Taper Avenue in San Pedro, California, 90731.

Gates will be open at 7:15AM for exhibitors to set up. The event will start at 8:00AM sharp.

The gymnasium will hold our exhibitors. Room 108 will have the presentations. Seating is limited. All speakers must be present at least 15 minutes ahead of their speaking time.

Below is a tentative list of our speakers. The list is subject to change without notice.

  • Opening and first session, 8:00-8:30am, Dave Nordling, President, RRS.ORG
  • 8:30-9:00am, by remote, Ichiro Ausin, et al, University of Michigan
  • 9:00-9:30am, Dr. Steven Chambreau, Air Force Research Laboratory, Edwards AFB
  • 9:30-10:00am, Eric Schmidt, Exquadrum Inc.
  • 10:00-10:30am, Mark Ventura, Ventura Energy Systems
  • 10:30-11:00am, Dean Theodor, Federal Aviation Administration
  • 11:00-11:30am, Julia Woomer et al, USC Rocket Propulsion Laboratory
  • 11:30-12noon, Blake Spahr et al., UCLA Rocket Project
  • Lunch Break 12:00-1:00pm
  • 1:00-1:30pm, Dr. Frank Chandler, California Polytechnic Pomona
  • 1:30-2:00pm, Dr. Jerry Fuller, Aerospace Corporation
  • 2:00-2:30pm, Tre Willingham et al, Compton Comet
  • 2:30-3:00pm, Caleb Phillips and Vijay Mepani, CALFIRE
  • 3:00-3:30pm, Jack Caldwell et al, Caltech
  • 3:30-4:00pm, Darrell Chua et al, UC San Diego SEDS
  • 4:00-4:30pm, Patrick Finley, Lander Challenge
  • Closing and thanks, Dave Nordling, President, RRS.ORG

Free tickets on Eventbrite are still available. Many thanks again to Peter Thorpe for his background artwork and to Mary Star of the Sea High School in San Pedro, California, for graciously hosting this event. Food/drinks/snacks will be provided by Mary Star High School.

For questions, please contact our vice president, Frank Miuccio.

vicepresident@rrs.org

Our April 14th monthly meeting will be also held at the Mary Star High School auditorium at 7:30pm. We will discuss a few items of business but largely we will be preparing the site for the next day.

Our latest flyer design for the 80th anniversary RRS symposium
Rough floor plan of the exhibition in the Mary Star High School gymnasium
Laminated impulse scale charts from the RRS will be available for purchase at the symposium for $10 each. Proceeds go to the society general fund.
Membership applications will be available at the symposium for those wishing to apply for associate membership. $20 per year for students. $40 per year for all others.

We look forward to celebrating amateur rocketry with the community.

80th Anniversary RRS Symposium

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by Dave Nordling, President, RRS.ORG

The Reaction Research Society is pleased to announce we will be holding our 80th anniversary space and rocketry symposium on Saturday, April 15, 2023. Invited speakers are from universities, government agencies and local industries. We will have exhibitions and demonstrations throughout this all day event starting at 8AM and ending at 5PM.

Mary Star High School, San Pedro, California

The symposium will be held at the Mary Star High School in San Pedro, California.

https://goo.gl/maps/112MqaEXF6VSqM3GA

More details will be forthcoming including our list of speakers and our fundraising projects.

The society had a successful series of symposiums from 2017 through 2019 until the pandemic forced us to cancel the 2020 Symposium. After three years, we’ve decided to relaunch just in time to celebrate eight decades as an educational and research focused organization. The prior symposium was such a success that we have already begun to confirm speakers including Aerospace Corporation, Northrop Grumman, Ventura Energy Systems, Cal Poly Pomona, CALFIRE and the FAA.

Contact our vice president, Frank Miuccio, for information. We look forward to sharing our past, present and plans for the future at the symposium.

vicepresident@rrs.org

RRS attended the 1st annual FAR Liquid Rocket Symposium

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by Dave Nordling, President, RRS.ORG

Representatives of the Reaction Research Society were invited to attend the 1st annual Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) liquid propellant rocket symposium at the EAA Chapter 1 headquarters at the Flabob Airport in Riverside, California, on January 28, 2023. Dimitri Timohovich and I came to observe and participate in the all-day event including a range of topics related to safe design and operations with liquid rockets. There were hardware demonstrations giving attendees a direct appreciation for the importance of safety and careful planning with their system designs.

The intended audience was university rocket teams looking for best practices and expert advice. Mark Holthaus (president of FAR), Mark Ventura (RRS member and owner of Ventura Energy Systems) and Derek Honkawa (FAR member and private business owner) all gave excellent presentations covering igniters, propellant handling, part cleaning, and pressure system safety with a generous amount of examples of successful and unsuccessful projects at FAR.

FAR will soon make their presentation files available on their website for download. The RRS was glad to be there for this first of its kind event.

The RRS similarly has experts that have supported liquid rocket projects for decades at the Mojave Test Area. Contact the RRS president for requests and scheduling.

Also, the RRS will be holding our 80th anniversary symposium on April 15th at a venue location to be announced soon. This will be our first symposium since the pandemic and we look forward to having many speakers from industry, government, academia and the hobbyist community on topics related to liquid propellant rockets and many other subjects of interest to our public audience.

Sunrise at the Flabob Airport in Riverside, California.
For early cold mornings, coffee helps.
Pressurized water flow testing rig on display.
A full day of presentations on topics related to liquid rockets.