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RRS attends the 48th RTG meeting at AFRL

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The RRS was glad to be invited to attend the 48th meeting of the Rocket Test Group (RTG) held at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on April 11 and 12, 2017. I had the honor of representing the RRS at the event and would like to thank Phil Rice of AFRL and Tom Jacks of NASA Stennis Space Center (SSC) who are the current chairmen of the RTG.

The RTG is an entirely volunteer organization of rocket test facility operators where they share experiences and safe practices in an effort to pass knowledge between private industry, government and academia.

Rocket Test Group (RTG)

The RRS was glad to make a presentation introducing ourselves and sharing our long rich history. It was great to see the presentations and listen to some of the new developments and issues among the country’s different rocket testing organizations. Presenters at the event included AFRL, Purdue University, Parabilis Space Technology and Aerojet Rocketdyne. Also in attendance was XCOR, Blue Origin, Aerospace Corporation, Johns Hopkins University and NASA SSC.

Dave Nordling presents at the 48th RTG meeting at AFRL

Photography was only permitted inside of the meeting hall which had some great exhibits of historic rocket engines including the Agena upper stage and a recovered SCUD engine.

the venerable Agena upper stage engine at AFRL

recovered SCUD motor on display at AFRL

Also in a display case at the AFRL meeting hall were flight prototypes of laser light propelled disks invented by Dr. Leik Myrabo, researched by the Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute and developed by the company Lightcraft Technologies in 2001.

Lightcraft Technologies Incorporated

It was a fascinating experiment showing how a powerful ground-based laser system (such as those developed under the former “Star Wars” program from the Cold War) could be used to propel a very small spinning disk payload to high altitudes and perhaps even to orbit.

laser light propulsion prototypes tested at AFRL

Link to a USA Today science article (2/16/2001) on this project:
USA Today, Science, 2001-FEB-06

In addition to the presentations, our Air Force hosts gave us a tour of the research and testing facilities. We got to witness a solid grain test firing at Area 1-32, tour the AFRL liquid rocket stands, the Space Propellants Environmental Facility (SPEF) and the AFRL Electric Propulsion laboratory.

RTG 48 group photo at AFRL 1-A stand

Photography wasn’t allowed on the tour, but we had a group photo taken in front of the historic AFRL 1-A stand where the F-1 engine was proven in the 1960’s and the RS-68 engine started development in the late 1990’s. It was truly a pleasure to see so much history at AFRL.

The RRS was also glad to be accepted into the RTG organization as an educational non-profit group and we look forward to attending the next bi-annual RTG meeting later this year.

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USC sets new altitude record with Fathom II

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The University of Southern California Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (USC RPL) has posted the results from their recent launch of their Fathom II vehicle from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

The link below goes into greater detail:
USC RPL breaks altitude record with Fathom II

The Fathom II vehicle was confirmed to have reached an altitude of 144,000 feet (43.98 km) on March 4, 2017. USC RPL now is the record holder for the highest altitude achieved by a wholly student built and launched rocket.

USC Fathom II at launch

USC RPL has been working hard over the years to reach this plateau of success. USC has conducted many tests and even launched some of their early vehicles from the RRS Mojave Test Area.

Next stop will be USC building and launching their larger full-scale SpaceShot vehicle to cross the von Karman line of 100 km altitude (328,083 feet 3 inches).

USC RPL team and the Fathom II rocket

The RRS congratulates USC on this stellar accomplishment and we hope to hear all about it at the RRS symposium at USC’s presentation in our speaker series, Saturday, April 22nd.

Saturday, April 22, RRS symposium in Gardena

rrs symposium flyer 5

The symposium is open to the public at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena, CA. Well done, USC!

UCLA Tin Can project, CoDR

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The RRS was glad to participate in the Conceptual Design Review (CoDR) of UCLA’s Tin Can project on Wednesday night, March 1st. This project will have UCLA build a liquid bi-propellant rocket to be flown in competition with other schools at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) site just south of the RRS Mojave Test Area (MTA).

FAR website, Launch Contest

Richard Garcia, RRS director of research

Dave Nordling, RRS secretary

The goal is to reach a specific target altitude using a liquid bi-propellant propulsion system (45,000 ft target, 30,000 ft minimum) with a minimum payload weight (1 kg) provided by FAR that includes an altitude tracking device. The winner will get $50K and the contest is jointly sponsored by the Mars Society. The UCLA team has already been organized with requirements documents provided and subsystem leads designated. Propellant selection was made (RP-1 and nitrous oxide) and the basic design parameters were set for this pressure-fed rocket.

The RRS has offered to support UCLA in the design and testing of key subsystems including propulsion at the RRS MTA. The RRS is thankful for the invitation to share our experience in this ambitious project and we look forward to working with UCLA in the coming months as the project advances to the preliminary design phase and beyond.